El Salvador has agreed to house “dangerous criminals” deported by the United States, President Nayib Bukele announced Monday following talks with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The deal expands beyond El Salvador’s acceptance of its own deported citizens to include criminals from other nations, Rubio said.
“Any illegal immigrant in the United States who’s a dangerous criminal—MS-13, Tren de Aragua, whatever it may be—he has offered his jails, so we can send them and he will put them in his jails,” Rubio said, referring to members of transnational criminal organizations.
Rubio, who is on his first overseas tour as the U.S. top diplomat, is seeking support from Central American countries to facilitate mass deportations under the Trump administration’s migration policies.
As part of these efforts, the U.S. is working to establish “third-country” agreements, in which nations accept deportees from other countries that refuse to take them back.
Countries like Cuba and Venezuela have historically limited the number of deportees they accept due to strained relations with the U.S. However, Rubio said Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has now agreed to accept the return of Venezuelan nationals deported from the U.S.
Bukele also proposed housing dangerous criminals who are U.S. citizens or legal residents, though it remains unclear whether Washington will accept the offer.
“We are willing to take in only convicted criminals (including convicted U.S. citizens) into our mega-prison… in exchange for a fee,” Bukele said in a post on X, referring to El Salvador’s high-security terrorism confinement center.
He added that while the fee would be low for the U.S., it would significantly contribute to making El Salvador’s prison system financially sustainable.
The U.S. State Department has previously described prison conditions in El Salvador as “harsh and dangerous,” noting that overcrowding poses a serious threat to inmates’ health and safety. Reports highlight inadequate sanitation, potable water, ventilation, and lighting in many facilities.
Despite these concerns, Bukele’s administration has received praise from the Trump administration for its tough-on-crime approach, which has resulted in the arrests of more than 80,000 people and a sharp decline in homicides.
Since taking office on Jan. 20, President Donald Trump has intensified deportations, including the use of military aircraft for repatriation flights.
On Monday, the Trump administration revoked deportation protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in the U.S., a move that could lead to a significant increase in deportations.
Additionally, Trump recently announced plans to expand the detention facility at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to hold up to 30,000 detainees as part of his broader crackdown on illegal immigration.
