White House studying Trump proposal to transfer US prisoners to El Salvador

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reported Tuesday that the administration is analyzing whether it is legal to send U.S. citizens convicted of felonies to prisons in El Salvador, a proposal recently floated by President Donald Trump.

During a press conference, Leavitt said the administration is exploring whether there is a legal basis to implement this measure and assured that it will not move forward with the idea without first confirming that it fits within the legal framework. He also indicated that, if possible, it would only apply to particularly violent and repeat offenders.

Context of the proposal.

The initiative was mentioned by Trump during a meeting in the Oval Office with the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele. In the meeting, the president suggested that the Central American country could receive people convicted in the United States, which would require increasing the capacity of the Salvadoran prison system.

"Homegrown criminals next," Trump told Bukele. "You gotta build about five more places," referring to new prisons.

Currently, one of El Salvador's best-known prisons holds Venezuelan nationals accused of gang membership in gangs such as MS-13, as well as a U.S. citizen who was deported by mistake, which has put the spotlight on this proposal.

Legal debate

Criminal justice experts have warned that transferring U.S. citizens to overseas prisons could contravene the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, which prohibits "cruel and unusual" punishments.

However, Karoline Leavitt said the proposal is being carefully examined by the government's legal team and that Attorney General Pam Bondi is actively involved in that analysis.

For his part, Trump defended the idea by insisting that it would apply only to extremely dangerous people. "If we can do that, that's good," he declared. "Really bad people. Every bit as bad as the ones coming in."