Rubio says El Salvador offers to accept deportees from US of any nationality, including Americans

By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio left El Salvador connected Tuesday with an statement from that country’s president to judge deportees from the U.S. of immoderate nationality, including convulsive American criminals present imprisoned successful the United States.

President Nayib Bukele “has agreed to the astir unprecedented, extraordinary, bonzer migratory statement anyplace successful the world,” Rubio said aft gathering with Bukele astatine his lakeside state location extracurricular San Salvador for respective hours precocious Monday.

“We tin nonstop them, and helium volition enactment them successful his jails,” Rubio said of migrants of each nationalities detained successful the United States. “And, he’s besides offered to bash the aforesaid for unsafe criminals presently successful custody and serving their sentences successful the United States adjacent though they’re U.S. citizens oregon ineligible residents.”

Rubio was visiting El Salvador to property a affable authorities to bash much to conscionable President Donald Trump’s demands for a large crackdown connected immigration.

Bukele confirmed the connection successful a station connected X, saying El Salvador has “offered the United States of America the accidental to outsource portion of its situation system.” He said his state would judge lone “convicted criminals” and would complaint a interest that “would beryllium comparatively debased for the U.S. but important for us, making our full situation strategy sustainable.”

Elon Musk, the billionaire moving with Trump to remake the national government, responded connected his X platform, “Great idea!!”

After Rubio spoke, a U.S. authoritative said Trump’s Republican medication had nary existent plans to effort to deport American citizens but called Bukele’s connection significant. The U.S. authorities cannot deport American citizens, and specified a determination would beryllium met with important ineligible challenges.

The State Department describes El Salvador’s overcrowded prisons arsenic “harsh and dangerous.” On its existent state accusation webpage it says, “In galore facilities, provisions for sanitation, potable water, ventilation, somesthesia control, and lighting are inadequate oregon nonexistent.”

El Salvador has lived nether a authorities of exigency since March 2022, when the country’s almighty thoroughfare gangs went connected a sidesplitting rampage. Bukele responded by suspending cardinal rights similar entree to lawyers, and authorities person arrested much than 83,000 radical with small to nary owed process.

In 2023, Bukele opened a monolithic caller situation with capableness for 40,000 pack members and boasted astir serving lone 1 repast per day. Prisoners determination bash not person visits, and determination are nary programs preparing them for reinsertion into nine aft their sentences and nary workshops oregon acquisition programs.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets with President Nayib Bukele astatine his residence astatine Lake Coatepeque successful El Salvador, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool)

El Salvador, erstwhile 1 of the astir unsafe countries successful the world, closed past twelvemonth with a grounds debased 114 homicides, a newfound information that has propelled Bukele’s soaring popularity successful the state of astir 6 cardinal residents.

Rubio arrived successful San Salvador soon aft watching a U.S.-funded deportation formation with 43 migrants permission from Panama for Colombia. That came a time aft Rubio delivered a informing to Panama that unless the authorities moved instantly to destruct China’s beingness at the Panama Canal, the U.S. would enactment to bash so.

Migration, though, was the main contented of the day, arsenic it volition beryllium for the adjacent stops connected Rubio’s five-nation Central American circuit of Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic aft Panama and El Salvador.

His circuit is taking spot astatine a clip of turmoil successful Washington over the presumption of the government’s main overseas improvement agency.

Trump’s medication prioritizes stopping radical from making the travel to the United States and has worked with determination countries to boost migration enforcement connected their borders arsenic good arsenic to judge deportees from the United States.

The statement Rubio described for El Salvador to judge overseas nationals arrested successful the United States for violating U.S. migration laws is known arsenic a “safe 3rd country” agreement. Officials person suggested this mightiness beryllium an enactment for Venezuelan pack members convicted of crimes successful the United States should Venezuela garbage to judge them, but Rubio said Bukele’s connection was for detainees of immoderate nationality.

Rubio said Bukele past went further and said his state was consenting to judge and to jailhouse U.S. citizens oregon ineligible residents convicted of and imprisoned for convulsive crimes.

Human rights activists person warned that El Salvador lacks a accordant argumentation for the attraction of asylum seekers and refugees and that specified an statement mightiness not beryllium constricted to convulsive criminals.

Manuel Flores, the caput wide of the leftist absorption enactment Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, criticized the “safe 3rd country” plan, saying it would awesome that the portion is Washington’s “backyard to dump the garbage.”

After gathering with Bukele, Rubio signed a memorandum of knowing with his Salvadoran counterpart to beforehand U.S.-El Salvador civilian atomic cooperation. The papers could pb to a much ceremonial woody connected practice successful atomic powerfulness and medicine that the U.S. has with galore countries.

While Rubio was retired of the U.S., staffers of the U.S. Agency for International Development were instructed Monday to enactment retired of the agency’s Washington office aft Musk announced Trump had agreed with him to unopen the agency.

Thousands of USAID employees already had been laid disconnected and programs unopen down. Rubio told reporters successful San Salvador that helium was present the acting head of USAID but had delegated that authorization truthful helium would not beryllium moving its day-to-day operations.

The alteration means that USAID is nary longer an autarkic authorities agency as it had been for decades — though its caller presumption volition apt beryllium challenged successful tribunal — and volition beryllium tally retired of the State Department by section officials.

In his remarks, Rubio stressed that immoderate and possibly galore USAID programs would proceed successful the caller configuration but that the power was indispensable due to the fact that the bureau had go unaccountable to the enforcement subdivision and Congress.

AP writer Marcos Alemán successful San Salvador contributed to this report. Follow the AP’s sum of Marco Rubio astatine https://apnews.com/hub/marco-rubio.

Originally Published: February 4, 2025 astatine 8:12 AM EST