El Salvador’s president Bukele says he won’t return Maryland man
In a meeting at the White House, Nayib Bukele told President Trump he would not return the mistakenly deported Maryland man Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump on Monday suggested U.S. citizens who commit violent crimes could be sent to El Salvador, telling Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele that the “homegrowns are next” and urging him to build more prisons to house them.
Trump brought up the idea ‒ which he’s discussed previously ‒ to Bukele in the Oval Office before reporters entered the room for their bilateral meeting. The exchange was captured in a livestream video published on the X account of Bukele’s office.
“Homegrown criminals are next,” Trump said to Bukele. “I said homegrowns are next, the homegrowns. You’ve go to build about five more places.”
Bukele told Trump “alright” while Trump officials in the room could be heard laughing.
“It’s not big enough,” Trump said.
Trump has turned to El Salvador to hold alleged criminal migrants deported from the U.S. Bukele opened up CECOT, the country’s notoriously brutal Terrorism Confinement Center, for use by the Trump administration to hold more than 270 men it accused of being members of the Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gangs.
Among those detained in El Salvador is Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland father and sheet metal worker, who a federal court ruled was wrongfully deported after being accused of being in MS-13. Bukele said Monday he has no plans to release and return Abrego Garcia, who was in the U.S. illegally, despite the U.S. Supreme Court ordering the Trump administration to facilitate his return.
Legal experts say incarcerating naturalized and U.S.-born citizens in another country would be unconstitutional.
Trump doubled down on the idea of sending criminal U.S. citizens to El Salvador as he addressed reporters alongside Bukele.
“We always have to obey the laws, but we also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways, that hit elderly ladies on the back of the head with a baseball bat when they’re not looking ‒ that are absolute monsters,” Trump said.
“I’d like to include them in the group of people to get them out of the country, but you’ll have to be looking at the laws on that, Steve,” Trump said, directing his comments to Stephen Miller, a deputy White House chief of staff who has helped craft Trump’s immigration agenda.
Trump later added that Attorney General Pam Bondi is studying the legality of sending violent U.S. citizens who are criminals to El Salvador.
“If it’s a homegrown criminal, I have no problem,” Trump said. “We’re studying the laws right now. Pam is studying if we can do that. And I’m talking about violent people. I’m talking about really bad people.”
Bukele told Trump he’s “eager to help the Trump administration. “Mr. President, you have 350 million people to liberate,” Bukele said. “But to liberate 350 million people, you have to imprison some.”
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.