The infamous El Salvador mega prison can hold as many as 40,000 inmates
The president is apparently keen on the idea of sending American inmates abroad to one of the ‘world’s worst’ jails, but isn’t so clear on the legality of the matter.
Just last month, as many as 261 accused criminals of non-US nationality were deported out of the states and into the infamous El Salvador mega-jail as part of Donald Trump’s plans to crackdown on immigration.
The mass deportations were given the go-ahead after the president brought back a rare 18th-century wartime legislation, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, allowing the US to deport migrants who have been accused of being in gangs or committing crimes without any court proceedings taking place.
As many as 238 of the deported have been accused of being affiliated with or a member of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, while 23 are alleged members of the MS-13 gang.
The president says he ‘loves’ the idea of sending US criminals to foreign prisons (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The prison is notorious for housing Venezuelan gang members as well as mass murderers and has some brutal rules, like holding inmates for 23.5 hours a day in their cramped cells with mostly metal furniture – a far cry from the ‘luxuries’ of American jails.
However, Trump isn’t ruling out shipping some US citizens to El Salvador either, though the process might not actually be legally sound.
Speaking to reporters who asked him if he would be willing to take Americans out of the federal prison population to foreign jails, Trump instantly replied: “Well, I love that.”
The POTUS suggested he would be keen to send some of their most heinous criminals to the jail if El Salvador President, Nayib Bukele, would agree.
“If we could take some of our 20-time ‘wise guys’ that push people into subways and that hit people over the back of the head and that purposely run people over in cars, if he would take them, I’d be honored to get them,” he said. “If they can house these horrible criminals for a lot less money than it costs us, I’m all for it.”
Yet, Trump did admit that he would only carry out the move ‘according to the law’, admitting: “I don’t know what the law says on that, but I can’t imagine the law would say anything different.”
The Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador has a notorious reputation (Alex Pena/Anadolu via Getty Images)
His comments come as Trump stated not long after returning to the White House that he would like to revoke a kind of penal colony for US convicts, suggesting that the country could pay foreign countries a ‘small fee’ to host some of their worst repeat criminals.
He explained further: “I have suggested that, you know, why should it stop just the people that cross the border illegally?
“We have some horrible criminals, American-grown and born, and if we have somebody that bops an old woman over the head, if we have somebody that is in jail 20 times and goes back and shoots people all over the place and then has a bad judge or a bad prosecutor that do nothing about them, all they worry about is politics, I think if we could get El Salvador or somebody to take them, I’d be very happy with it, but I have to see what the law says.”
However, many have pointed out the plan would be in conflict with international human rights laws, as per a law thread on Reddit.
“Incarcerated US citizens do not lose their human rights,” one said. “Sending them to a foreign prison would seemingly violate those rights.”
“It’s called rendition. And it’s blatantly illegal,” wrote a second.
“Due process, citizenship, and justice aren’t negotiable. This isn’t leadership. It’s authoritarian fantasy,” chimed a third.
