El Salvador Approves a Deal with the U.S. To House Violent Criminals

What Happened?

Following a meeting with Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Monday that El Salvador has agreed to house violent US criminals and receive deportees of any nationality. 

Mr. Rubio issued a statement saying, ‘In an act of extraordinary friendship to our country El Salvador has agreed to the most unprecedented and extraordinary migratory agreement anywhere in the world.’

Why it Matters

Under the terms of the new deal El Salvador will accept any deportee who entered the United States illegally regardless of their nationality. 

Those deported will then be housed in Salvadorian prisons. Secretary of State Rubio also announced that El Salvador ‘has offered to house dangerous American criminals in custody in our country, including those of US citizenship and legal residents.’ It remains unclear whether the U.S. government will act on that part of the agreement, as there are questions about its legality.

El Salvador may seem an unlikely place to find a new authoritarian strongman, but they are now the home of the self-described ‘world’s coolest dictator.’ 

Nayib Bukele is in his early forties, and he is by every available measure quite popular in El Salvador. Vicious gang warfare and endemic corruption have rendered El Salvador into a broken state, a place where violence and poverty became so extreme many people felt they had no choice but to flee. 

Many did, turning El Salvador into one of the leading contributors to the wave of migrants streaming north to the border of the United States seeking a place to start a new life.

With their police and justice system completely broken due to widespread corruption, gangs ruled and terrorized the land, until Bukele took office. Using the nation’s military, Bukele has arrested nearly 10% of the entire male population of El Salvador, imprisoning tens of thousands on gang related charges in a matter of months. 

With no trials and no warrants, just an accusation of being a gang member or a gang sympathizer can bring soldiers to your door in the middle of the night. Thus far the public response in El Salvador has been positive. 

Many have cheered the mass arrests and breathed a sigh of relief they could walk the streets again without fear of assault by armed gangs.

How it Affects You

Cooperation from Latin American countries is crucial to any serious effort by the United States to reduce the number of illegal immigrants coming north from central and South America. 

Deporting former citizens of El Salvador back to their home country is certainly within the authority of U.S. officials.

But there are serious legal questions about deporting American citizens who have been imprisoned in the U.S. It’s unlikely such actions would survive a court challenge.