The Trump administration and the president of El Salvador said Monday that they'd struck a deal allowing the U.S. to ship both detained migrants and imprisoned citizens to the tiny Central American nation,

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio waves before boarding a plane at El Salvador International Airport in San Luis Talpa, El Salvador, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, en route to Costa Rica. Mark Schiefelbein/Pool via REUTERS SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - On Monday,

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he is reviewing an offer from the president of El Salvador to deport not just undocumented immigrants but also American prisoners to a mega-prison in the South American country.

President Nayib Bukele has offered to jail deported criminals from the United States. His prisons have earned him a reputation as being tough on crime, but have raised alarms over rights abuses.

The Trump administration is assessing whether it could take up El Salvador's offer to house U.S. citizens convicted of crimes in its jails, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday, despite the apparent illegality of such a move.

El Salvador has offered to take in people deported from the U.S. for entering the country illegally and to house some of the country’s violent criminals — even if they’re American citizens.

Bukele had offered to take in people deported from the US, regardless of their nationality, and house them in El Salvador's mega-jail. "We can send them and he will put them in his jails," Rubio said.