Bukele Offers El Salvador’s Infamous Prison in Bid to Charm Trump

(Bloomberg) -- What appeared to be a standard — albeit very friendly — diplomatic meeting between Nayib Bukele and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday took an unusual turn when the Salvadoran president made an unprecedented offer to the US.

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He told Rubio that El Salvador would be willing to accept deportee criminals of any nationality — US citizens included — into the nation’s biggest industrial-size prison built specifically to house gang members.

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When one X user suggested that convicted Democratic Senator Bob Menendez be sent to the facility, Elon Musk replied, “Great Idea!” Bukele was quick to repost it.

In some ways it’s on brand for Bukele, who rode his crime crackdown — which included jailing nearly 2% of the nation’s 6.4 million people using emergency powers — to a 90% approval rating and record-low murders. But more than anything, the offer showed his efforts to appeal to US President Donald Trump. While other Latin American leaders like Colombia’s Gustavo Petro initially tried to put terms on Trump’s deportations, Bukele is not only accepting the plans, like Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, but embracing them.

The roots of Bukele’s thinking are more likely economic than ideological. He’s tackled his country’s crime problem, but has struggled to attract significant enough foreign investment to reverse years of economic underperformance in the region.

“It’s possible Bukele, Maduro and a few others are playing a long game, being friendly with Trump’s deportation agenda in return for very little initially because they think it will benefit them down the line,” said James Bosworth, founder of political risk firm Hxagon. “A small amount of money goes a long way in El Salvador.”

What exactly Bukele would receive in exchange for any potential deportation deal isn’t clear. But in a post on X, Bukele said the foreign prisoners would be housed for an undisclosed “fee.”

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“The fee would be relatively low for the US but significant for us, making our entire prison system sustainable,” the Salvadoran president said.

Even a small portion of the potential $80 billion deportation budget from Trump’s border czar Tom Homan could be a significant boost for Bukele’s anti-crime agenda, Bosworth said.

Mutual Benefits

Rubio’s visit to Bukele’s private lakehouse stood in stark contrast to his visit to Panama the day before, when he squeezed concessions out of President Jose Raul Mulino including free passage for US Navy vessels through the canal and a commitment to withdraw from China’s Belt and Road initiative.

Instead, Rubio promised Bukele he would encourage US investment in El Salvador. Though he didn’t say whether the US would accept the criminal deportee offer — experts say it would be illegal — Bukele again was keenly aware of his audience. During Rubio’s days as a senator, he praised Bukele’s policy of locking up tens of thousands of alleged gangsters under emergency powers.

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@nayibbukele explicó cómo su país puede beneficiarse de tener buenas relaciones con Estados Unidos.Tras ser consultado por @EMPosts, el mandatario destacó el protagonismo de EE.UU. como su principal socio comercial y fuente de inversiones, y… pic.twitter.com/h20eiHPNlw

— Bloomberg en Español (@BBGenEspanol) February 5, 2025

“It is undeniable that the United States is our most important partner, our most important trading partner, our largest buyer of our exports,” Bukele said Monday from the deck of his lakehouse, standing next to Rubio. “It’s a good time to strengthen the relationship. And that’s what we’re doing here. I’m sure it’s going to be beneficial for both of us.”

Separately, Bukele said his administration is seeking to broker a deal with the US that goes beyond a “safe-third country” agreement in which El Salvador would accept asylum seekers while their requests are processed. Bukele didn’t provide details on what the pact would entail.

Bloomberg reported last week that El Salvador was in talks to take in deported members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang. It’s unclear whether that option is still on the table given that Maduro has agreed to accept his country’s deported nationals.

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Meanwhile, Trump kept intact temporary protection status for Salvadorans last week while revoking it for Venezuelans. There are an estimated 750,000 undocumented Salvadorans in the US.

“A good bilateral relationship is an asset to any regional leader right now, given Trump’s willingness to use sanctions and tariff threats — and Central America’s dependence on the US economy,” said Risa Grais-Targow, director for Latin America at Eurasia Group. “They had a very good working relationship during Trump’s first administration and since then, Bukele has deepened his ties with Trump’s inner circle.”

Bukele was among the invitees to Trump’s inauguration, and Donald Trump Jr. attended Bukele’s inauguration in June. The Salvadoran president spoke at the CPAC gathering outside Washington last February.

Crime Crackdown

El Salvador was one of the deadliest nations on earth before Bukele took office. During the 1990s, the US deported thousands of members of the MS-13 and 18th Street gangs to the country, which led to decades of turf wars, extortion rackets and homicides. Murders fell to a record low 114 in 2024, according to government figures.

Bukele opened a new maximum security prison in 2023 and imprisoned tens of thousands of alleged gang members who were arrested using emergency powers. The country now has the world’s highest incarceration rate.

If dangerous gang members were deported from the US, they could end up there. The center has a capacity for 40,000 prisoners, and had 12,000 inmates as of late 2023. On Monday, a government spokesperson said its occupancy rate couldn’t be revealed for security reasons.

Human rights groups have criticized Bukele’s harsh policies for neglecting due process. Some families say innocent loved ones have been imprisoned for crimes they didn’t commit. Hundreds of inmates have died in the overcrowded prisons, according to rights groups.

Angelina Lué Salame, 55, said her only son was picked up by police in March 2022, just days after Bukele declared a state of emergency giving the military sweeping powers to detain suspected gang members.

Lué says her son was bringing buckets of water back to her home to make tortillas when he was detained. She says he’s innocent, but his case hasn’t been tried and she hasn’t spoken to him since he was locked up.

On Monday, she was putting together a care package of underwear, socks, cereal and toilet paper to deliver to the jailhouse doors, hoping the goods would reach him.

“I don’t know anything at all about him,” she said between tears. “They tell me he’s in this jail, but I really don’t know anymore. I don’t know if he exists or doesn’t exist. I just have faith.”

Path Forward

El Salvador’s security gains are at the heart of Bukele’s continued popularity.

On Monday, Mariluz Ramos, 38, visited a massive new public library recently built in the center of city’s capital. The seven-story, curved building with modern chandeliers, gleaming stone floors and interactive exhibits has become a symbol of how radically the country has changed.

As curious locals and tourists wandered the building, Ramos said that this area of the city was too dangerous to visit just a couple years ago. Gangs and pickpockets prowled the streets. Now there are kids playing in a park and couples holding hands in the shade.

“A few years ago, my husband and I came down here to buy some things and we had to leave fast because some gang members started following us around,” she said. “Now I can walk around with a purse and look at my cell phone. It’s hard to believe.”

There are some other positives when it comes to El Salvador’s future. It’s expanding ports, constructing a new airport and getting its finances in order. Plus, the country reached a $1.4 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund in December.

El Salvador will need far more than that, however, to kickstart its economic engine. El Salvador’s economy is expected to expand 3% this year, unchanged from last year, according to the IMF. El Salvador’s poverty rate remains above the regional average with investment levels below peers, according to the OECD.

Its economy remains vulnerable given its heavy reliance on remittances — which account for 24% of gross domestic product — along with its high external debt balance and low reserve buffer, according to a report by Oppenheimer analysts Fernando Losada and Thomas Jackson.

“However,” they wrote on Feb. 3, “we believe El Salvador is likely to avoid US tariffs and may stand to benefit through increased cooperation given a shared political ideology.”

--With assistance from Eric Martin and Matthew Bristow.

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