El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele plans to double the size of the notorious megaprison where the country is holding migrants that President Donald Trump deported.
The plan would make room for more prisoners and comes after Trump has openly mused about sending Americans convicted of violent crimes to the South American country.
Bukele would expand the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), which is already the largest prison in the world, he told Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem when she visited last month, the Wall Street Journal reported.
‘We have no plans to bring them back, this is a long-term solution,’ she told the news outlet. ‘He has plans to double the size. He has 80-plus acres there that he’s going to continue to build on.’
Doubling the prison’s capacity would create space for a total of 80,000 inmates.
President Donald Trump with President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office, where Trump encouraged him to build more prisons
The Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) was built in late 2022 amid a gang crackdown in El Salvador.
As of June 11, 2024, CECOT had a population of 14,532 inmates. It can hold 40,000.
The prison faces allegations of human rights violations, including overcrowding, lack of due process, and inhumane conditions.
It sits on 57 acres and Bukele’s government controls the 350 acres around the compound. It’s surrounded by 19 guard towers, 24-inch-thick walls that are topped with barbed wire, and two sets of electrified fences.
The prison is staffed by 600 soldiers and 250 police officers.
In mid-March, Trump’s administration deported more than 250 alleged gang members to El Salvador – most of them Venezuelan – and had them incarcerated in CECOT. The U.S. is paying Bukele’s government $6 million to hold them.
Noem, who visited the prison, said El Salvadoran officials told her the prisoners deported from the U.S. were treated better than local inmates.
‘They have mattresses. They have full meals,’ she said. ‘They receive time for exercise and are getting medical checks on a regular basis.’
But Trump’s deportation was shrouded in controversy.
One of deportees was Armando Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man and father of three. The administration originally said Garcia was deported by mistake but now argues he belongs there as a member of MS-13 gang. Garcia denies membership and has no criminal record.
Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland flew to El Salvador to try and meet with Garcia but was denied entry into the prison.
The White House criticized Van Hollen’s trip, saying he should be focused on keeping criminals in prison.
Van Hollen said he asked Vice President Félix Ulloa why El Salvador is keeping him at the prison without evidence he is a gang member.
‘His answer was that the Trump administration is paying the government of El Salvador to keep him at Cecot,’ he said. ‘It’s a prison where they say they send the worst of the worst. It’s where they send the terrorists.’
Salvadoran prison guards escort alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and the MS-13 gang recently deported by the U.S. government
Inmates at the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) prison
Garcia’s case – and all of Trump’s deportations – are being challenged in court. Trump used the Alien Enemies Act to deport them, which some critics have argued is illegal because that law can only be used when the country is at war.
The U.S. deported about 240 Venezuelans and a handful of Salvadorans, who were members of Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang.
Trump designated that gang and MS-13 as ‘foreign terrorists organizations,’ which the administrations argues meets the ‘at war’ requirement.
However, US District Judge James Boasberg ruled Wednesday that ‘probable cause exists’ to hold Trump administration officials in criminal contempt for violating his orders in mid-March halting the use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members.
The administration is appealing his ruling.
Bukele has become a close Trump ally and visited the president in the Oval Office earlier this week.
‘You gotta build about five more places,’ Trump told him during their sit down.
‘We’ve got space,’ Bukele said.
‘It’s not big enough,’ Trump replied.
Trump also said he’s open to sending more criminals there, including ones that are American citizens.
‘I’m all for it,’ he noted.
‘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.’
‘If it’s a homegrown criminal, I have no problem, no,’ he said, adding: ‘I’m talking about really bad people.’
He noted that Attorney General Pam Bondi is ‘studying the law’ on the matter.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, accompanied by Minister of Justice and Public Security Hactor Gustavo Villatoro (right) tours the Terrorist Confinement Center
Many legal scholars say deporting U.S. citizens to foreign prisons is illegal
The immigration law that gives the government the authority to deport people does not apply to U.S. citizens. The law could be changed, however.
Also, in the U.S, prisoners still have basic constitutional rights and can challenge their convictions and conditions of confinement.
It is unclear what rights they would have – if any – in a foreign prison.
