El Salvador Offers to Host US Prisoners as a Lucrative Business Deal

el salvador - President Bukele proposes to accept criminals and illegal immigrants from the US in El Salvadorian prisons.

El Salvador Offers to Host US Prisoners

President Bukele of El Salvador has proposed opening the country's prison doors not only to Salvadoran criminals but also to illegal immigrants and criminals from other countries unwanted by the US.

Bukele's proposal aims to gain favor with the new US administration and create a lucrative business model by accepting payments to incarcerate US criminals and illegal immigrants.

This initiative, if approved, would require the US to recognize El Salvador as a "safe third country." Bukele even suggests that American citizens could serve their sentences in El Salvador.

However, legal experts raise concerns about the legality of such an agreement. Leti Volpp, a migration law professor at the University of Berkeley, states that the US cannot deport its own citizens, detained or not. The US State Department has also criticized the conditions of Salvadoran prisons, highlighting overcrowding and lack of basic necessities.

Despite these concerns, the new US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, views Bukele's proposal as a friendly gesture towards the US. He describes it as a mutually beneficial arrangement where the US sends criminals, and El Salvador incarcerates them.

El Salvador, under Bukele's leadership, has prioritized combating gang violence. The country declared a state of emergency in 2022, resulting in the arrest of 83,000 individuals linked to gangs. This tough approach led to a significant drop in crime rates, with murders decreasing from 50 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2018 to 1.8 in 2024.

While Bukele's anti-gang measures have been praised for reducing crime, critics point out human rights violations. Thousands of young men were imprisoned without due process, often based on superficial reasons like tattoos or prior convictions. Despite these concerns, Bukele enjoys widespread support in El Salvador.

El Salvador's new mega-prison, the Terrorism Confinement Center (CETOT), with a capacity of 40,000 inmates, currently houses 15,000 prisoners. Bukele sees this as an opportunity to generate revenue for the country's prison system by accommodating US prisoners for a fee.

Trump supporters, including Elon Musk, have lauded the plan, with Musk calling it an "excellent idea." Trump previously hinted at building a mega-prison for illegal immigrants at Guantanamo Bay, but Bukele's proposal could offer a convenient alternative.

While some American migrant groups criticize the plan as inhumane, El Salvadorian opposition voices concerns about the country's role in hosting foreign prisoners.