(NewsNation) — President Donald Trump said he is looking into deporting “homegrown criminals,” or American citizens who commit violent crimes, to El Salvador.
Trump suggested the idea of shipping off citizens to places like El Salvador’s notorious mega-prison CECOT in a Monday meeting with President Nayib Bukele.
“We also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways, that hit elderly ladies on the back of the head with a baseball bat when they’re not looking, that are absolute monsters,” Trump said. “I’d like to include them in the group of people, to get them out of the country.”
Trump also told Bukele to build five more prisons for Americans.
Trump said his team is studying the matter, though the idea has raised legal concerns.
It would likely be a violation of the U.S. Constitution for the administration to send any native-born citizen forcibly into an overseas prison, as part of being a citizen means you cannot be forcibly sent to another country.
The Constitution also prohibits “cruel and unusual punishment,” and one of CECOT’s selling points is that conditions there are far harsher than in prisons in the United States.
Trump’s suggestion comes amid growing legal questions about the administration’s decision not to send back Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador last month.
Abrego Garcia entered the U.S. illegally but has lived in Maryland with his wife and son under protected legal status since 2019.
“It is absolutely unjust and illegal to have this Marylander detained one more day in a notorious prison in El Salvador,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.
The Supreme Court in a 9-0 decision ordered the administration to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia back to Maryland. The Department of Justice insists the federal courts lack the ability to make that demand.
The Trump administration has doubled down on claims Abrego Garcia is a leader of the MS-13 gang, and Attorney General Pam Bondi said she is leaving his return “up to El Salvador.”
On Monday, Bukele aligned with Trump.
“How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?” he asked. “I don’t have the power to return him to the United States.”
The Associated Press and NewsNation’s Patrick Djordjevic contributed to this report.
