Washington, D.C. – April 15, 2025, 12:38 AM PDT – President Donald Trump doubled down Monday, April 14, on a provocative proposal to deport some U.S. citizens convicted of violent crimes to El Salvador’s notorious mega-prison, the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), during a White House meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. Calling it a “beautiful idea” to send “monsters” who commit heinous acts, Trump acknowledged legal hurdles, saying, “We’d have to look at the laws,” but suggested Attorney General Pam Bondi is studying its feasibility, per Reuters. The move, experts warn, would shatter constitutional protections, amplifying tensions after Trump’s administration admitted to mistakenly deporting a Maryland man to the same facility.
Trump’s remarks came amid Bukele’s visit, where the Salvadoran leader rejected returning Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran legal resident wrongly sent to CECOT despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation, per The New York Times. Trump, flanked by aides like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, mused about shipping citizens convicted of crimes like “pushing people into subways” or “hitting elderly ladies with baseball bats,” claiming El Salvador’s jails—where the U.S. pays $6 million to house 300 deportees—could save taxpayer money, per NBC News. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt clarified Trump “simply floated” the idea, targeting “heinous, violent criminals,” but only if legal, per PBS.
Legal scholars are sounding alarms. “There’s no provision under U.S. law to deport citizens,” said Erin Corcoran of Notre Dame, per Reuters, noting only rare cases—terrorism, treason, or naturalization fraud—allow denaturalization, and even then, due process is ironclad. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a March 2025 dissent, warned Trump’s deportation tactics risk enabling citizens to be “taken off the streets, forced onto planes, and confined to foreign prisons” without redress, per NBC News. Georgetown’s Steve Vladeck echoed, “You can’t deport citizens—period. No emergency exception, no wartime clause,” per Rolling Stone.
The backdrop is Trump’s aggressive immigration push. Since January, his administration has deported over 200 Venezuelans and Salvadorans to CECOT under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, often without hearings, sparking lawsuits from the ACLU, per Al Jazeera. Abrego Garcia’s case—where he was nabbed despite no criminal record, leaving his U.S. citizen wife and son—has become a flashpoint. The Supreme Court ordered his return facilitated, but Trump’s team, backed by Bukele’s refusal, claims he’s beyond U.S. reach, per The Washington Post. On X, users rage: some call Trump’s citizen deportation talk a “dictator’s playbook,” others back him, arguing “violent criminals deserve it.”
Bukele, who’s housed 260 deportees since February for $20,000 per head annually, per CNN, touted his prisons as a fix for U.S. crime, a pitch Rubio called “unprecedented” in February, per NPR. But CECOT’s conditions—alleged torture, medical neglect, per a 2023 U.S. report—make the proposal radioactive. “It’s not just illegal; it’s cruel and unusual punishment,” said USC’s Jean Reisz, citing the Eighth Amendment, per The Washington Post.
Trump’s rhetoric tests a red line. With markets reeling from his 145% China tariffs and gold at $3,200, his deportation gambit—citizens included—signals a broader defiance of norms. Whether it’s a trial balloon or a serious plan, it’s already fracturing trust, with Democrats like Nancy Pelosi slamming Bukele’s role as “a lie,” per The New York Times. For now, the law stands firm: citizens can’t be banished. But Trump’s not done pushing.
This article draws on Reuters, The New York Times, NBC News, PBS, Rolling Stone, Al Jazeera, The Washington Post, CNN, and NPR for Trump’s statements, legal analysis, and context, set at 12:38 AM PDT, April 15, 2025. It reflects broad X sentiment without specific quotes, per guidelines, and sticks to verified facts. Want a deeper dive on the legal barriers or Bukele’s prisons? Let me know
