President Donald Trump hosted El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele at the White House on Monday, reinforcing the controversial US-El Salvador alliance centered on immigration enforcement and deportations. Bukele’s visit, the first by a Latin American leader since Trump’s return to office, underscored a shared agenda aimed at combating gang violence through aggressive deportation tactics—including proposals that push the boundaries of US law.
At the center of their discussion was the ongoing collaboration in deporting individuals, many of whom have been transferred to El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center, a megaprison that has faced international condemnation for alleged human rights violations. Bukele confirmed that over 200 individuals have already been accepted into the facility. Among them are Venezuelan nationals affiliated with the Tren de Aguara gang, as well as other detainees who were removed from the US but do not have an established criminal record.
In a particularly contentious exchange, Bukele refused to comply with a US Supreme Court ruling ordering the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident and asylum seeker who was mistakenly deported due to what the Trump administration described as an “administrative error.”
“He was illegally in our country … and in 2019, two courts, an immigration court and an appellate immigration court, ruled that he was a member of MS-13,” Attorney General Bondi said in response to questions about whether Garcia, who was repeatedly linked to the MS-13 gang, would be returned. “That’s up to El Salvador if they want to return him, that’s not up to us.”
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Despite Garcia’s lack of a criminal record, Bukele labeled him a “terrorist” and dismissed the court’s directive as “preposterous.”
“The question is preposterous, how can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?” Bukele replied. “I’m not very fond of releasing terrorists into our country … we just turned the murder capital of the world into the safest country in the western hemisphere and you want us to go back? That’s not going to happen.”
Trump and his senior advisor Stephen Miller backed Bukele’s stance, accusing the media of misrepresenting Garcia’s immigration status.
The episode has further strained the administration’s relationship with the judiciary and reignited concerns over the separation of powers in immigration enforcement. Legal analysts warn that the refusal to comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling sets a dangerous precedent, particularly in cases involving due process and international law.
President Trump also floated an extraordinary idea during the Oval Office meeting: deporting U.S. citizens convicted of violent crimes to El Salvador’s prison system.
“We’re talking about really bad people — people who don’t deserve to be here,” Trump said, noting that the Attorney General is exploring the legal feasibility of such actions. The proposal, however, has been met with widespread skepticism from constitutional scholars, who argue that deporting U.S. citizens violates bedrock legal principles.
Trump praised Bukele’s leadership, hailing his crackdown on crime and presenting the partnership as a model for hemispheric security cooperation. The two leaders also touted a claimed 99.1% decrease in illegal border crossings, a figure Trump said was being suppressed by major media outlets like CNN. During a live broadcast, CNN anchor Dana Bash interrupted coverage to refute Trump’s claims, stating the network “does not hate the country” and urging a focus on factual reporting.
Trump’s ongoing feud with CNN remains emblematic of his broader war on the press, as he continues to frame critical media coverage as unpatriotic or dishonest. Nevertheless, the administration’s immigration policies — particularly those involving Bukele — are increasingly drawing legal scrutiny and sparking debate about the moral and constitutional limits of enforcement.
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