El Salvador offers to house U.S. criminals, including citizens, in mega-prison

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has announced that the Central American country has offered to take in convicted criminals, including U.S. citizens, after a meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“We have offered the United States of America the opportunity to outsource part of its prison system,” Bukele stated in a post on Monday evening. “We are willing to take in only convicted criminals (including convicted U.S. citizens) into our mega-prison (CECOT) in exchange for a fee.”

President Bukele added that the fee would be “relatively low for the U.S. but significant for us, making our entire prison system sustainable.”

Bukele “has agreed to the most unprecedented, extraordinary, extraordinary migratory agreement anywhere in the world,” Secretary of State Rubio said following his meeting with the Salvadoran president, according to Time Magazine. “He’s also offered to do the same for dangerous criminals currently in custody and serving their sentence in the United States, even though they’re U.S. citizens or legal residents.”

During his visit to El Salvador, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Foreign Minister Alexandra Hill signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Strategic Civil Nuclear Cooperation (NCMOU), committing the U.S. to support El Salvador in developing nuclear energy.

The Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador is a high-security mega-prison designed to house the country’s most dangerous criminals, particularly gang members. With a capacity for up to 40,000 inmates, CECOT is a key part of President Bukele’s aggressive anti-gang strategy. Since its inauguration in 2023, critics have raised concerns over human rights, citing reports of harsh conditions at the facility.