I'm completely for it.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly hinted that he would like to send severely criminal Americans to El Salvador's high-security prisons. Justice Minister Pam Bondi is said to have been tasked with investigating whether such transfers can be carried out legally, and Leavitt confirmed on Tuesday that it is happening, according to media.
The President will only consider this, if it is legal, for the most violent, horrible, American repeat offenders that no one here wants in society, said Leavitt.
Violation of the law?
Such a procedure would, however, be a violation of the American Constitution's eighth amendment, which prohibits "cruel and unusual" punishments, argue legal experts according to Axios.
The move comes in the light of the US already having deported around 250 undocumented migrants, who are claimed to be members of terrorist-stamped gangs, to El Salvador. This happened after President Nayib Bukele, shortly after Trump's inauguration in January, offered to let the US deport people to his country in exchange for payment.
The US government has admitted to also having sent a person, 29-year-old Kilmar Abrego Garcia, on false grounds. A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to "facilitate" his return, which has also been confirmed by the Supreme Court. The 29-year-old, who was born in El Salvador but is married to an American and resides legally in the US, is still in a Salvadoran prison.
Pledge from Trump
When Bukele visited Trump at the White House on Monday, he said he did not intend to return the man.
The question is unreasonable. I don't have the power to return him to the US, replied the President to journalists' questions.
Mass deportations of undocumented immigrants were one of President Trump's most prominent campaign promises. He has repeatedly accused migrants of rape, violent crime, and drug trafficking.
