Summary
Trump expressed support for sending American citizens to El Salvador’s CECOT prison, praising President Bukele’s tough-on-crime stance.
The U.S. already deported 238 Venezuelans there under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, despite federal judges calling the transfers unlawful and ordering returns.
Trump said he’d be “honored” to send repeat U.S. offenders abroad if legal. Critics, including judges and rights advocates, condemned the plan as unconstitutional and authoritarian.
Legal experts warn no U.S. law permits outsourcing American incarceration, raising serious due process and human rights concerns.
I wonder how many Americans know that this was the reality in Chile, after the USA funded and supported a coup that killed the elected president in the only truly stable and functional democracy of South America at the time, in order to instate a ruthless dictator.