By Charles Switzer
9:12am PDT, Apr 15, 2025
Trump Suggests Deporting U.S. Citizens to Salvadoran Prisons
During a meeting with El Salvador's President
Nayib Bukele on Monday, April 14, President
Donald Trump proposed a controversial idea: sending American citizens — particularly violent criminals — to prisons in
El Salvador.
Trump suggested that Bukele build "five more" facilities to accommodate U.S. criminals, saying, "Home-growns are next. The home-growns. You gotta build about five more places. It's not big enough," prompting laughter from administration officials in the Oval Office.
Here's what's happening.
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Trump's Long-Standing Idea to Deport U.S. Citizens
This idea is not necessarily new for Donald Trump, who has previously discussed the possibility of sending U.S. citizens to foreign prisons, in addition to deporting criminal migrant gang members to the maximum-security Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, the
New York Post reported.
On Monday, Trump confirmed that he had tasked Attorney General
Pam Bondi with investigating the legal avenues for deporting U.S. citizens. "If it's a home-grown criminal, I have no problem with that," Trump remarked, adding that Bondi is currently reviewing the laws.
Trump's Remarks on Violent Criminals
Donald Trump was clear about the type of individuals he was referring to in his comments. When asked about his plan by reporters, he explained, "I'm talking about
violent people, I'm talking about really bad people."
He emphasized that his focus is on criminals who've committed heinous acts: "If they're criminals and if they hit people with baseball bats over their head that happen to be 90 years old and if — if they r*** 87-year-old women in Coney Island, Brooklyn, yeah, yeah, that includes them," Trump said.
He dismissed the idea of special categories for certain individuals, stating, "What do you think, there's a special category of person? They're as bad as anybody that comes in."
Leavitt Confirms Trump's Deportation Discussion
White House press secretary
Karoline Leavitt later confirmed that President Donald Trump had been publicly and privately considering the idea of deporting violent repeat offenders to El Salvador.
"The president has said if it's legal, if there's a legal pathway to do it — he's not sure we are not sure if there is," Leavitt explained. "It's an idea that he's floated and has discussed very publicly."
Trump's Previous Statements on Sending Criminals Abroad
On Sunday, April 13, Donald Trump expressed his support for sending violent criminals to the Salvadoran prison system, stating that he would be "honored" to send "20-time wiseguys who push people into subways" to the Latin American mega-prison.
His comments reportedly reflect his broader stance on dealing with violent criminals through more extreme measures, although legal and logistical challenges remain unclear.
