Trump welcomes Bukele to the White House and announces that he is "considering" deporting migrants with US citizenship to El Salvador.

WashingtonTurning El Salvador into Donald Trump's prison has made Nayib Bukele the first Latin American leader to meet with the US president. The Central American leader met with his counterpart this Monday to discuss new immigration agreements after the White House deported people to the Cecot mega-prison in March. more than 200 Venezuelans and Salvadorans. All of them were sent under the Alien Enemies Act and without a judicial process to defend themselves against accusations of belonging to criminal gangs. The Trump administration has already acknowledged that at least one of the deportees is innocent and that he was sent "due to administrative error": Kilmar Abrego García. The administration claims to be "powerless" to return him, despite the fact that Bukele and Trump sat down in the Oval Office this Monday to strengthen ties.

"I want to thank you for all the work you've done," Trump told Bukele, whom he called a "good friend." "He's helping us a lot," the US president said, referring to the use of the Cecot (Spanish Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency) to deport undocumented migrants. Bukele responded: "We want to help." In fact, the tycoon has suggested that they are also considering deporting migrants who have obtained citizenship. "If they're criminals... Because we can do these things with President Bukele for less money and with greater security. We have a huge prison population. There are other people we're also negotiating with. We're studying the laws right now. If we can, this is fine," the Republican said.

Bukele has also closed ranks with Trump on the return of Abrego García, whom he has falsely accused of being a "terrorist" and said he has "no power" to return him to the United States. On the US side, advisor Stephen Miller, the great ideologue behind Trump's plan for mass deportations, was the one who intervened on the issue and said that it is "arrogant" to demand that another country send its citizens to the United States. "A federal judge tried to tell the administration to kidnap a citizen of El Salvador and bring him here," Miller said, completely distorting the focus of the issue: the removal of a man who had been protected from deportation since 2019 and who entered the United States in 2011 while fleeing the U.S. maras Salvadoran women.

Bukele, great collaborator

Bukele arrives in Washington at the height of two major legal battles over Trump's immigration policies: the deportation of Abreggo García and the enforcement of the Alien Enemies Act. Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that the government must "facilitate" the return of the 29-year-old, who had been protected from deportation since 2019, but left open the question of whether a federal judge can order the executive branch to do so. On Sunday, the Justice Department filed a new appeal arguing that federal judges "do not have the authority to order" the executive branch how to manage "foreign relations." The resolution of the dispute over Abrego García will set a precedent for how far the executive branch will go in carrying out its campaign of mass deportations.

The legality of the enforcement of the Alien Enemies Act, which Trump wants to use as an accelerator for his campaign of mass deportations, is still up in the air. The Supreme Court, despite lifting the temporary block imposed by a judge, has yet to issue a detailed ruling on the case.

Bukele has gone from being another ally of the president to practically becoming his main collaborator in the campaign of fear against the migrant community. However, he has not done so for free. The White House paid approximately six million dollars to lock up Cecot Abrego García and more than 200 Venezuelans who were deported under the Foreign Enemies Act. All of them were allegedly accused of belonging to the criminal gangs MS-13 and Tren de Aragua. None of them were afforded due process, as a judge from the Court of Appeals pointed out.

In Trump's plans for mass deportations, El Salvador's prisons have become a key element. Not only for practical reasons, but also as a narrative through which to instill fear in the migrant population and even American citizens themselves. When Bukele offered his prisons to the United States in January during Secretary of State Marco Rubio's visit, he raised the possibility of housing both migrants and citizens who had committed crimes there.

In one of his posts, Trump threatened to send people arrested for attacking Tesla in protest against Musk and the new government to Cecot. "I hope to see the sick terrorist criminals receive 20-year prison sentences, for what they are doing to Elon Musk and Tesla. Perhaps they could serve them in the prisons of El Salvador, which have become so famous lately for their pleasant conditions!" he wrote.

The prisons of terror

In September of last year, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) published a report on the state of emergency in El Salvador, describing a whole series of actions in the prison system, ranging from systematic detentions without evidence to cells filled to overflowing with prisoners without food or water.

Amid all the reactionary leaders who flatter Trump, Bukele has managed to gain a prominent place. The rapport between the two leaders is a response to the US president's admiration for authoritarian leaders who apply a heavy hand. In El Salvador, Bukele succeeded in getting the Parliament—controlled by his party—to remove the judges of the Constitutional Court, the country's highest judicial body, in 2021. Even then, alarm bells were ringing in a country that was descending into the abyss of authoritarianism. Just last Tuesday, the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador approved the 32nd extension of the state of emergency. The regulations, which suspend some constitutional rights and guarantees, have allowed, according to authorities, the arrest of more than 83,000 people and have recorded more than 633 days (non-consecutive) without homicides.

Despite the reduction in homicides, organizations such as Amnesty International and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights have unsuccessfully called for the repeal of the state of emergency, arguing that it allows human rights violations and that innocent people have been arrested.