President Donald Trump said Monday he supports deporting American citizens to one of the most feared prisons in the world: El Salvador’s Cecot mega-prison.
Trump made the comments during a meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele at the White House. When asked by a reporter if he would consider deporting not just undocumented immigrants, but U.S. citizens to foreign prisons, Trump didn’t hesitate.
“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 rape 87-year-old women in Coney Island, Brooklyn—yeah,” Trump said. “And why do you think there’s a special category of person? They’re as bad as anybody that comes in. We have bad ones, too.”
Trump called them “homegrown criminals” and said he sees no issue with removing them from the U.S.
“I have no problem with that,” he said.
Cecot, known for its massive scale and extreme security measures, is home to thousands of gang members and has drawn international criticism for its harsh conditions. But Trump praised the idea of working with Bukele to send criminals there.
“I’m all for it because we can do things with the [Salvadoran] president for less money and have great security,” he said.
He also said his team is exploring the legal steps to make it happen.
“We’re studying the laws right now. [Attorney General Pam Bondi] is studying if we can do that. That’s good,” Trump added. “I’m talking about really bad people, really bad people, every bit as bad as the ones coming in.”
His comments are already raising legal and constitutional questions about whether U.S. citizens—natural-born or naturalized—can be deported to foreign prisons.
Watch Trump’s remarks in the video below:
