Trump muses about sending American criminals to other countries
President Trump on Tuesday mused about sending American citizens who are violent criminals to other countries to be imprisoned, telling reporters his administration was looking at the legality of it.
Trump spoke to reporters in the Oval Office a day after the president of El Salvador offered to accept deported immigrants from the United States, as well as American citizens who were convicted of violent crimes.
“If we could get them out of their country, we have other countries that would take them. It’s no different than a prison system, except it would be a lot less expensive and it would be a great deterrent,” Trump told reporters.
“We’re talking about getting the criminals out of our country … the illegal migrants, as I call them,” he continued. “Well, we have people that are just as bad as them in our country. If we could get them out, I’d be very happy.”
The government can’t deport American citizens, and any effort to do so would be met with immediate legal challenges, something Trump seemed to acknowledge.
“I’m just saying if we had a legal right to do it, I would do it in a heartbeat,” Trump said. “I don’t know if we do or not, we’re looking at that right now.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Monday that Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele offered to house in his country’s prison system “dangerous American in custody in our country, including those of U.S. citizenship and legal residents.”
In exchange, Bukele — known for his aggressive approach to tackling gang violence in his country — would accept a fee from the U.S. government.
“There are obviously legalities involved. We have a Constitution. But it’s a very generous offer,” Rubio said Tuesday during a press conference in Costa Rica.
The Trump administration has aggressively moved to deport individuals who entered the United States illegally, sending deportees to Colombia, Venezuela and Guantánamo Bay in Cuba.
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