President Donald Trump had a chilling response when he was asked about US citizens being sent abroad to some extreme prisons.
Trump recently deported 238 alleged gang members from the U.S. to El Salvador—despite a judge’s order to halt the flight.
The deportation was carried out using a rarely invoked 18th-century law meant for wartime emergencies, a move the Trump administration defended by claiming the country is facing an “invasion” from transnational criminal organizations, per the Independent.
While the plane was already en route, a federal judge ruled the deportation unconstitutional—but it was too late. Trump’s team denied any wrongdoing and said they had not violated the ruling.
The 238 men were swiftly taken to El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Centre (CECOT), one of the world’s most extreme mega-prisons.
A deal had been brokered between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Nayib Bukele, who shared footage of shackled inmates being escorted into the maximum-security compound.
Bukele confirmed their arrival, stating: “The first 238 members of the Venezuelan criminal organization have landed… The United States will pay a very low fee for them, but a high one for us.”
Bukele didn’t stop there.
“As always, we continue advancing in the fight against organized crime. But this time, we are also helping our allies, making our prison system self-sustainable, and obtaining vital intelligence… All in a single action. May God bless El Salvador, and may God bless the United States.”
Trump took to Truth Social to celebrate the move: “These are monsters sent into our Country by Crooked Joe Biden and the Radical Left Democrats. How dare they!” He also gave a shoutout to Bukele: “Thank you to El Salvador, and in particular President Bukele… We will not forget.”
But what about criminals who are US citizens?
In a recent interview on Fox Noticias with Rachel Campos-Duffy, the former president floated an idea of sending U.S. citizens to prisons abroad.
“I call them home-grown criminals... the ones that grew up and something went wrong,” Trump said. Then came the six words that sent a chill through viewers: “I would love to do that.”
He doubled down, saying, “We want to do it,” and claimed his administration is actively “looking in to” the possibility.
Trump even name-dropped Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is “studying the law” to see if deporting U.S.-born criminals is possible. “If we can do that, that’s good,” he added.
Speaking alongside the El Salvadoran President on April 14, Trump said that while “we always [have] to obey the laws,” he still wants to include “homegrown criminals that push people into subways, that hit elderly ladies on the back of the head with a baseball bat when they’re not looking, that are absolute monsters.”
Legal experts, however, say the idea is a nonstarter.
“US citizens may not be deported to imprisonment abroad. There is no authority for that in any US law,” said David Bier, an immigration expert at the Cato Institute, per NBC News.
Anthony Kreis of Georgia State University added: “I can’t see how exiling someone is permissible as part of the bundle of rights that are fundamental to citizenship.”