President Donald Trump on Monday doubled down on his concept of sending U.S. residents to overseas prisons, telling El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele he needed to ship “homegrown criminals” to his nation subsequent, in response to a video posted by Bukele’s workplace on X.
The feedback got here as Trump welcomed Bukele, a key associate in his migrant deportations, to the White Home amid controversy over the Supreme Court docket saying the administration ought to “facilitate” the return of a migrant from Maryland wrongfully despatched to a infamous Salvadoran mega-prison.
As the 2 males entered the Oval Workplace, earlier than reporters had been allowed within the room, Trump mentioned his proposal to ship U.S. residents convicted of violent crimes to El Salvador and instructed Bukele he wanted to construct extra prisons to deal with them.
“Homegrown criminals subsequent,” Trump stated, in response to a livestream posted by Bukele’s workplace. “I stated homegrowns are subsequent, the homegrowns. You gotta construct about 5 extra locations.”
Bukele was heard responding “alright” and others within the room laughed.
“It isn’t sufficiently big,” Trump added.
President Donald Trump meets with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele within the Oval Workplace on the White Home in Washington, April 14, 2025.
Ken Cedeno/Pool/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Trump and varied White Home officers have repeatedly floated the concept of sending U.S. residents to El Salvador and different locations — one thing authorized specialists have stated can be flatly unconstitutional.
On Monday, throughout a twig with reporters, Trump stated his workforce was “finding out” the difficulty.
“If it is a homegrown prison, I’ve no downside,” Trump stated. “Now we’re finding out the legal guidelines proper now, Pam [Bondi] is finding out. If we will do this, that is good.”
“And I am speaking about violent individuals. I am speaking about actually dangerous individuals. Actually dangerous individuals. Each bit as dangerous as those coming in,” he continued.
Bukele first supplied to deal with violent U.S. criminals shortly after Trump was inaugurated.
When Secretary of State Marco Rubio introduced the proposal from Bukele again in early February, he referred to as the it “an act of extraordinary friendship.” Although on the time, Rubio additionally famous there can be constitutional questions on such a transfer, saying there are “clearly legalities concerned.”
Bukele on Monday stated he was “very keen to assist” the Trump administration.
“In reality, Mr. President, you may have 350 million individuals to liberate. You realize, however to liberate 350 million individuals, it’s important to imprison some,” Bukele stated.
ABC Information’ Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.
