U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi dodged a direct question on Monday about whether President Donald Trump’s latest idea—shipping American citizens to a foreign prison—is legal.
During an appearance on Fox News, host Jesse Watters asked Bondi if Trump’s proposal to send violent U.S. criminals to El Salvador’s infamous mega-prison was allowed under the law.
Watters didn’t sugarcoat it. “The president was musing about sending some of the most horrible people in this country down to that mega-prison. You know, people that push ladies into subways and hit old ladies with baseball bats to the head. Is that legal to do? Is that something you’re allowed to do?”
Bondi didn’t answer.
Instead, she shifted to tough-on-crime talking points. “Well, Jesse, these are Americans he is saying who have committed the most heinous crimes in our country and crime is going to decrease dramatically because he has given us a directive to make America safe again,” she said.
“These people need to be locked up as long as they can, as long as the law allows. We’re not gonna let them go anywhere and if we have to build more prisons in our country, we will do it.”
Still, she never said if Trump’s idea was legal. Watters, apparently satisfied anyway, closed with, “Right, that’s what I thought.”
Trump first floated the plan earlier this month, telling reporters he liked the idea of using El Salvador’s CECOT facility, a prison known for its harsh conditions and mass incarceration.
“I love that. If we could take some of our 20-time wise guys that push people into subways and hit people over the back of the head and then purposely run people over in cars, if he [El Salvador President Nayib Bukele] would take them, I would be honored to give them,” Trump said.
“I don’t know what the law says on that but I can’t imagine the law would say anything different,” he added. “If they can house these horrible criminals for a lot less money than it costs us, I’m all for it but I would only do according to the law.”
Bondi’s refusal to address the legality leaves a big question hanging: Can the U.S. government really send its own citizens to a foreign prison?
No answers yet. Just big claims—and silence where the law should speak.
