El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has offered to take in convicted U.S. citizens and deported illegal migrants from any country as part of an agreement with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The deal, announced Monday following a meeting in San Salvador, could allow the United States to outsource part of its prison system to the Central American nation.

Rubio called the agreement “the most unprecedented, extraordinary, extraordinary migratory agreement anywhere in the world,” highlighting its potential impact on deportation and incarceration policies.

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Bukele stated that his country is willing to detain convicted criminals—including U.S. citizens and legal residents—inside its maximum-security facility, the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT), in exchange for payment from the United States.

“We have offered the United States of America the opportunity to outsource part of its prison system,” Bukele wrote on X.

“We are willing to take in only convicted criminals (including convicted U.S. citizens) into our mega-prison (CECOT) in exchange for a fee,” he added. “The fee would be relatively low for the U.S. but significant for us, making our entire prison system sustainable.”

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CECOT, which has a capacity of 40,000 inmates, is one of the largest and most secure prisons in Latin America.

The facility, opened under Bukele’s administration, has been used to house gang members in El Salvador’s crackdown on organized crime.

Photos released by the Salvadoran government last year showed prisoners packed into cells under heavy guard, with tattooed gang members seated closely together in a high-security environment.

The agreement aligns with President Donald Trump’s ongoing effort to tighten immigration enforcement and remove criminal offenders from the country.

Speaking to House Republicans last week, Trump signaled his support for expanding deportations beyond illegal immigrants to include violent criminals with multiple offenses.

“We also have many violent criminals in our country, however, that did not necessarily come here illegally but have been arrested 30 times, 35 times, 41, 42 times … for murder [and] other heinous charges,” Trump said.

“I don’t want these violent repeat offenders in our country any more than I want illegal aliens from other countries in,” he added.

Trump, 78, suggested that his administration would seek approval to deport repeat criminal offenders, regardless of their citizenship status.

“This is subject to getting it approved, but if they’ve been arrested many, many times [and] they’re repeat offenders by many numbers, I want them out of our country,” he stated. “I also will be seeking permission to do so.”

“We’re going to get approval, hopefully, to get them the hell out of our country.”

Trump also emphasized that outsourcing prisoner housing could be cost-effective, noting that he would expect any foreign country willing to hold U.S. prisoners to charge a “very small fee” compared to the high costs of incarceration in the United States.

A U.S. official told the Associated Press that while the Trump administration currently has no plans to deport American citizens, Bukele’s offer is being taken seriously. Any attempt to remove convicted U.S. citizens to a foreign country would likely face legal challenges.

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the agreements made with El Salvador “will make both countries stronger, safer, and more prosperous.”

Bruce confirmed that the deal includes El Salvador accepting all MS-13 gang members from the U.S. who are unlawfully in the country, as well as Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang members.

The agreement represents a significant shift in international cooperation on crime and immigration enforcement, setting the stage for potential new strategies in addressing repeat offenders and illegal immigration.

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