Trump wants to send American citizens to a concentration camp in El Salvador
In a meeting with El Salvador's president, he expressed a desire to expand the current arrangement involving migrants and include "homegrowns" for CECOT, a high security prison down south.
As previously reported, under the auspices of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 (a provision intended for wartime), the Trump Administration has been deporting illegal migrants without due process to a punitive concentration camp in El Salvador known for human rights abuses. Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, was eager to take Trump up on the offer to imprison migrants, doing so for a meager $6 million. Bukele’s “crackdowns on crime” in his own country have been called out by human rights groups for being predicated on anti-democratic mandates and punitive measures involving torture, disappearances, and death.
Those admitted to CECOT are stripped of their identity, shaved, and confined with around 65 other people in a small holding cell. Prisoners spend the vast majority of their time in confinement. Visits, outdoor time, and rehabilitation workshops are generally not allowed, and most prisoners are expected to serve for the rest of their lives. An estimated 90% of migrants the Trump Administration has sent so far don’t have any criminal record and are likely not associated with any gangs.
Andry Hernandez Romero, a gay makeup artist, and Kilmer Abrego Garcia, a husband and father without a criminal record, represent two such migrants who have captured the attention of the nation. Abrego Garcia is at the center of a high profile case in which a judge has ordered the Trump Administration to seek his return to the U.S. In contempt of court, both the Trump Administration and Bukele have acted as though their hands are tied, as well as pushing allegations that Abrego Garcia is part of the gang MS-13 without producing any evidence.
In a meeting earlier this week, Trump and Bukele reiterated their apparent inability to return non-criminal deportees to the United States. Additionally, both on the hot mic (video above obtained via @iamgabesanchez on X) and more overtly to the press, Trump reiterated his desire to send American-born criminals to CECOT, referring to them pejoratively as “homegrowns”. Trump has called for the deportation of American citizens numerous times. On the campaign trail, he infamously called for the expulsion of legal Haitian migrants in the town of Springfield, Ohio on the basis of false allegations around the eating of pets spread by far right groups. He has called for the rejection of birthright citizenship. And there have been many efforts, even during the first Trump term, to scrutinize and denaturalize citizens.
Though Trump has expressed a desire to employ this strategy only against the hardest of criminals, his track record for detaining individuals on visas over free speech issues like the criticism of Israel and all of the non-criminals already implicated in his current deportation campaign would suggest that even non-criminals are not immune, never mind the obvious legal challenges involved in deporting U.S. citizens at all. But if one thing has been made obvious throughout this second Trump term, it’s that the Trump Administration seems perfectly content to ignore the law entirely.
Individuals are currently being swept and deported for political dissent. Those appearing at routine immigration and customs check-ins that were previously largely innocuous under prior administrations are being detained. Visas are being cancelled without notice. All of this is occurring often without due process or trial. A lack of due process means that there is very little in the way of the Trump Administration detaining, disappearing, or deporting even citizens that they deem to be “un-American”. Trump expressing a desire to do just that should have everyone vigilant and concerned. Though ICE has recently often disregarded the law when engaging with people, it’s still important that you at least understand your rights when interacting with agents as this situation continues to evolve:
Immigration Raids are Coming: What You Can Do
Most advice laid out here was adapted from resources provided by the National Immigration Law Center and the National Lawyers Guild of Los Angeles.