Donald Trump has openly promoted a Salvadoran mega-prison as the reason US crime is dropping, even as legal scholars note he lacks authority to send American citizens there.
The former president, 78, posted a video to Truth Social recently showing prisoners being forced into the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, known as CECOT. He accompanied the footage with a bold claim about domestic safety.
“This is why murder and other crimes in America are at record lows,” he wrote on the platform.
The facility opened in 2023 under Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele and currently holds thousands of inmates, with officials claiming capacity for up to 40,000. A 24-hour security team monitors those inside, while 19 guard towers overlook a compound sealed by two concrete walls and two electrified fences.
Conditions inside have drawn international condemnation. Prisoners spend 23.5 hours daily in their cells under lights that never shut off, depriving them of any sense of time. Cells are reportedly crammed with multiple inmates, with temperatures climbing to 35C. Metal platforms serve as beds, and no utensils are provided — food must be eaten with bare hands.
The United Nations Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture has not stayed silent on the matter. Miguel Sarre, a member of that body, once described the complex as a “concrete and steel pit.”
Trump’s administration has already deported Venezuelans to CECOT despite court orders attempting to block those removals. The president’s recent post signals appetite for expanding the practice, and questions about US citizens being included have surfaced before.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio previously touted what he called “the most unprecedented, extraordinary, migratory agreement anywhere in the world.” Bukele had indicated willingness to accept deportees from the US regardless of nationality.
“We can send them and he will put them in his jails,” Rubio said at the time.
The secretary added a broader offer from the Salvadoran leader: “He [Bukele] has also offered to do the same for dangerous criminals currently in custody and serving their sentences in the United States even though they’re US citizens or legal residents.”
Legal barriers remain firmly in place. Trump cannot lawfully deport American citizens for incarceration abroad, a limitation that applied during Rubio’s announcement and still holds now. Yet the administration’s track record with Venezuelan deportees — proceeding with CECOT transfers after judicial pushback — leaves open what enforcement mechanism could actually prevent such a move.
The prison was constructed specifically to house those suspected of gang activity as part of Bukele’s sweeping crackdown on organized crime. That mission has since expanded into international cooperation, with the Salvadoran government positioning itself as a destination for other nations’ unwanted populations.
Trump’s framing of CECOT as a direct cause of American crime reduction represents a new rhetorical elevation of the facility. Where previous discussions centered on deportation logistics, his Truth Social post treats the prison as an active instrument of US domestic policy.
The temperature, lighting, and confinement protocols have made CECOT a focal point for human rights observers. The no-utensil rule and bare-handed eating join the constant illumination and extreme heat as markers of what critics have labeled inhumane treatment.
Bukele’s offer to accept US citizens remains on the table, according to the earlier Rubio statements, though no legal pathway currently exists to act upon it.