El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele intends to double the size of the now infamous CECOT, the maximum prison where deportees from the United States are currently held.
As reported by the Wall Street Journal last month, Bukele revealed his intentions to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
At present, the prison, dubbed by human rights groups as the “Tropical Gulag,” can hold up to 40,000 inmates-the goal now is to increase its capacity to 80,000.
In recent weeks, hundreds of immigrants have been brought here, deported from the United States on charges of belonging to the most dangerous and violent gangs in Venezuela and beyond, such as Tren de Aragua or MS-13.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a young Salvadoran man who was in the U.S. with a regular residence permit, also ended up behind CECOT bars “due to an administrative error”. The man is married to a U.S. citizen, by whom he had a son.
Although the Supreme Court ordered the White House to facilitate his return to the States, during his recent meeting with Trump Bukele himself said he was not willing to send back to the U.S. a man disliked by the federal administration.
A few days ago, the U.S. president had asked El Salvador to expand its prison facilities, threatening to send U.S. citizens who broke the law to foreign prisons.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, another federal judge, James Boasberg, ruled that Trump administration officials could be held in contempt of court for “willfully ignoring” an order to turn back planes carrying alleged Venezuelan gang members summarily deported to the brutal Salvadoran prison under the president’s use of the Alien Enemies Act.
Noem herself had already spoken on the matter last month, reiterating during a press visit to the CECOT: “We have no plans to bring them back, this is a long-term solution. President Bukele has plans to double the size. He has 80-plus acres there that he’s going to continue to build on.”
