https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-sending-americans-el-salvador-prison-2056122

President Donald Trump has signaled his support for sending American citizens to El Salvador’s notorious super prison.

Why It Matters

The White House administration sent hundreds of people onboard two flights in March to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador, despite a judge ordering the government to halt the planes. The Trump administration claimed the men were suspected of being part of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang.

U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg issued an order temporarily halting the government’s use of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act while its actions were being challenged in court.

What To Know

The president reached an agreement with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele over suspected gang members being deported from the U.S. Trump told reporters on Air Force One Sunday evening that he was open to the idea of sending more detainees, including American citizens, to the country.

“I love that,” Trump said. “If we could take some of our 20-time wise guys that push people into subways and hit people over the back of the head and purposely run people over in cars, if he would take them, I would be honored to give them.

“I don’t know what the law says on that,” he added. “I’m all for it. If they can house these horrible criminals for a lot less money than it costs us, I’m all for it.”

Trump said Bukele will visit him at the White House in the coming weeks and praised him for being “very tough on crime.”

The president recently invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a rarely used law from 1798 that grants broad presidential authority to detain and deport noncitizens during wartime.

His action targeted the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Trump has repeatedly and falsely claimed that the United States is under invasion by criminal immigrants.

It comes after a federal judge described the U.S. government’s decision to arrest a Maryland man and transfer him to El Salvador’s infamous super prison as “wholly lawless,” in a legal opinion explaining her order requiring the Trump administration to return him to the U.S.