El Salvador’s iron-fisted leader on Monday offered to jail Americans so US President Donald Trump can outsource the US prison system, an extraordinary step that was hailed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
There is virtually no precedent in contemporary times for a democratic country to send its own citizens to foreign jails, and any attempt to do so is sure to be challenged in US courts.
However, Rubio welcomed an offer to do just that by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, whose sweeping crackdown on crime has won him soaring popularity at home and hero status for many in Trump’s orbit.
Photo: AFP / El Salvador’s Presidency Press Office
“He has offered to house in his jails dangerous American criminals in custody in our country, including those with US citizenship and legal residency,” Rubio told reporters in San Salvador, adding: “No country’s ever made an offer of friendship such as this.”
“We are profoundly grateful. I spoke to President Trump about this earlier today,” he said.
Bukele said that El Salvador would ask for payment and was ready to incarcerate Americans in a prison he opened a year ago that is Latin America’s largest.
“We have offered the United States of America the opportunity to outsource part of its prison system,” Bukele wrote on X after Rubio’s statement.
“The fee would be relatively low for the US but significant for us, making our entire prison system sustainable,” he wrote.
Bukele is also willing to take back Salvadorans and nationals of other countries, Rubio said.
Rubio appeared to suggest the focus in El Salvador would be on jailing members of Latin American gangs, such as El Salvador’s MS-13 and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua.
“Any unlawful immigrant and illegal immigrant in the United States who is a dangerous criminal — MS-13, Tren de Aragua, whatever it may be — he has offered his jails,” Rubio said.
‘DANGEROUS GAME’: Legislative Yuan budget cuts have already become a point of discussion for Democrats and Republicans in Washington, Elbridge Colby said Taiwan’s fall to China “would be a disaster for American interests” and Taipei must raise defense spending to deter Beijing, US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead Pentagon policy, Elbridge Colby, said on Tuesday during his US Senate confirmation hearing. The nominee for US undersecretary of defense for policy told the Armed Services Committee that Washington needs to motivate Taiwan to avoid a conflict with China and that he is “profoundly disturbed” about its perceived reluctance to raise defense spending closer to 10 percent of GDP. Colby, a China hawk who also served in the Pentagon in Trump’s first team,
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
INVESTMENT WATCH: The US activity would not affect the firm’s investment in Taiwan, where 11 production lines would likely be completed this year, C.C. Wei said Investments by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in the US should not be a cause for concern, but rather seen as the moment that the company and Taiwan stepped into the global spotlight, President William Lai (賴清德) told a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday alongside TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家). Wei and US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday announced plans to invest US$100 billion in the US to build three advanced foundries, two packaging plants, and a research and development center, after Trump threatened to slap tariffs on chips made
RSS