Rubio says El Salvador’s offer to jail violent American criminals faces ‘legalities’

By MATTHEW LEE, AP Diplomatic Writer

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that El Salvador’s connection to judge and jailhouse convulsive American criminals raises wide ineligible issues but described it arsenic “very generous” and said that President Donald Trump would marque a determination connected whether to judge it.

A time earlier, Rubio reached an unusual statement with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to judge U.S. deportees of immoderate nationality, including American citizens who are imprisoned for convulsive crimes.

“There are evidently legalities involved. We person a Constitution,” Rubio said astatine a quality league Tuesday successful San Jose with Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves. “But it’s a precise generous offer. No one’s ever made an connection similar that. And to outsource, astatine a fraction of the cost, astatine slightest immoderate of the astir unsafe and convulsive criminals that we person successful the United States. But obviously, the medication volition person to marque a decision.”

Rubio met Chaves and discussed migration — a Trump medication precedence — arsenic America’s apical diplomat also faces large upheaval astatine the U.S. Agency for International Development that has near galore astatine the assistance bureau and the State Department uneasy and fearful for their jobs.

It comes a time aft helium met with Bukele, who 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.”

The State Department describes El Salvador’s overcrowded prisons arsenic “harsh and dangerous.” Its state accusation webpage 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 chopped prisoners’ meals to doubly a 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.

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.

Migration has been the apical contented for Rubio’s five-nation Central American circuit spanning Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic pursuing stops successful Panama and El Salvador.

While Rubio was retired of the U.S. this week, USAID staffers and Democratic lawmakers were blocked from its Washington office Monday aft Elon Musk, which is moving a budget-slashing Department of Government Efficiency, announced Trump had agreed with him to unopen the assistance agency.

Thousands of USAID employees already had been laid disconnected and programs worldwide 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.

In a missive Rubio sent to lawmakers that was obtained by The Associated Press, helium said the State Department would enactment with Congress “to reorganize and sorb definite bureaus, offices and missions of USAID.”

He said the processes astatine the agency, which has been deed by Trump’s frost connected each overseas assistance, are not good coordinated and that “undermines the President’s quality to transportation retired overseas relations.”

“In consultation with Congress, USAID whitethorn move, reorganize, and integrate definite missions, bureaus and offices into the Department of State, and the remainder of the Agency whitethorn beryllium abolished accordant with applicable law,” Rubio wrote.

AP reporters Christopher Sherman successful Mexico City and Farnoush Amiri successful Washington contributed to this report.