El Salvador’s President Plans to Double Size of Megaprison Holding Trump Deportees: Report
Pool via AP
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele is reportedly planning to double the size of the world’s largest prison to house more alleged deportees sent by President Donald Trump.
The expansion underscores the emerging partnership between Trump administration and Bukele’s government, which has eagerly stepped up as a destination for U.S. deportees.
During his recent visit to the White House Bukele told Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that he’s preparing to expand the so-called Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, to house up to 80,000 inmates, according to The Wall Street Journal. The facility, opened in 2023 to hold Salvadoran gang members, currently contains about 15,000 prisoners, including those deported from the U.S.
“You gotta build about five more places,” Trump told Bukele during their Oval Office meeting this week.
Bukele responded: “We’ve got space.”
Trump replied, “It’s not big enough.”
Trump was also caught on hot-mic floating to Bukele the idea of shipping some federal inmates to the facility. “The homegrowns are next,” he said.
Noem, who toured the prison in March and posed with rows of tattooed inmates, confirmed Bukele “has plans to double the size” of the prison.
“He has 80-plus acres there that he’s going to continue to build on,” she told the Journal.
The deal — brokered in part during Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Bukele’s home in February — has the U.S. paying $6 million to El Salvador to hold more than 250 deportees for a year.
