Trump says he would imprison Americans in El Salvador ‘in a jiffy’

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he was open to an offer from the president of El Salvador, who proposed to imprison convicts, including American citizens, in the sadly famous “megaprision” of the Central American country.

“If we had the legal right to do so, I would do it in a jiffy,” Trump said.

It is almost certain that he has no legal right to do so, according to legal experts, and any attempt to carry out the plan of President Nayib Bukele would probably be challenged before the courts.

But Bukele’s proposal to turn El Salvador basically a criminal colony in the United States showed how far he is willing to define himself as Trump’s main ally in a region that the US president has belittled. And for Trump, even considering the proposal, he pointed out his willingness to adopt extreme measures to demonstrate that it is hard with illegal crime and migration.

“It is quite extraordinary, unprecedented and alarming in many ways,” said Michael Shifter, principal researcher at the Washington Inter -American Dialogue Institute. “I know that many experts have raised doubts about the constitutionality and legality of this agreement, but Bukele is a leader who has absolute power in El Salvador and seems that Trump advances in a similar direction by trying to reduce or eliminate any control over his power.” .

Bukele, who has reconfigured his country undertaking energetic measures both against gangs and against civil liberties, said he would be willing to imprison those sent at the center of confinement of terrorism, a prison built to house 40,000 people and that he has raised the Concern from human rights groups for extreme overcrowding and allegations of torture by the guards.