President Donald Trump has made the astonishing admission that he would “like to go a step further” by potentially sending American criminals to an El Salvadoran prison. During a meeting with President Nayib Bukele on Monday, Trump expressed his desire to expand the scope of those sent to the controversial Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), which he praised as a “great” and “strong facility” where “they don’t play games.”
In response to a reporter’s question about funding for CECOT’s construction, the 78 year old president confirmed that the U.S. would contribute financially. He then revealed his controversial stance, saying, “I said to Pam, I don’t know what the laws are, we always have to obey the laws.”
Trump continued, highlighting the issue of domestic crime: “But we also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways, hit elderly ladies in the back of the head with a baseball bat when they are not looking, they are absolute monsters,” and expressed his wish to “I’d like to include them in the group of people to get them out of the country.”
This revelation follows a social media buzz generated by a video showing Trump whispering something to Bukele. The 29-second clip, shared on Twitter, captured a private exchange between the two leaders, sparking further speculation about Trump’s intentions. In a grainy video, Trump can be heard saying, “Home-growns are next. The home-growns.”, reports The Mirror US.
He further suggests that Bukele needs to “gotta build about five more places” as the current facilities “were not big enough.”The comments were made while Trump was giving Bukele a tour of the White House and were met with laughter, with Bukele assuring Trump that there “was enough room.”
Social media users reacted strongly to the video, with one Twitter user commenting, “He’s going to apply this to anyone he doesn’t like,” and another adding, “It didn’t start with gas chambers the first time around either,”. A third person stated, “This idea, in and of itself, should be an impeachable offense,” adding, “It is crazy we have a president suggesting he can imprison Americans in another country.”
However, one individual attempted to defend the president, arguing that he did not hear the question properly, saying: “Listen to the whole exchange on video, obvious he did not hear the question properly. He was responding to a scenario where an illegal enters the country. At one point he even says ‘when they come here’, obviously indicating that he did not hear the question.”
Following the release of the video, legal expert Lauren-Brooke Eisen of the Brennan Center for Social Justice in New York weighed in on whether Trump has the legal authority to deport Americans. She told the Associated Press, “It is illegal to expatriate U.S. citizens for a crime.”
Eisen pointed out that even if the administration attempted to relocate federal prisoners to CECOT, arguing they’re already incarcerated, it could potentially violate the First Step Act. This is a law that Trump himself advocated for and signed in 2018, which mandates the government to try and place federal inmates as close to their homes as possible to facilitate family visits.
It also requires the transfer of any inmate housed more than 500 miles from their home to a nearer facility. Moreover, dispatching Americans to CECOT could be perceived as an infringement of their Constitutional right against cruel and unusual punishment. One of the selling points of CECOT is its notably harsher conditions compared to US prisons.