Home Trump to host El Salvador’s Bukele following deportations to mega-prison – follow live

Trump to host El Salvador’s Bukele following deportations to mega-prison – follow live

· April 14, 2025 · 0 Comment
  2. Nomia Iqbal
  3. Reporting from the White House
  4. Image source, US Pool
  5. We’re stood just outside the doors of the West Wing as the meeting of the two showmen is set to take place. President Bukele, who has described himself self as “the world’s coolest dictator,” will meet with President Trump shortly.
  6. This is a big deal for 43-year-old Nayib Bukele – an Oval Office visit helps to put El Salvador on the global stage and solidify his alliance with the world’s most powerful leader.
  7. The State Department has already upgraded the country’s travel rating to safest level of 1 – something highly coveted by Bukele, who wants to open his country to tourism.
  8. In return, he is central to Trump’s hardline deportation policy. But no doubt lots of questions will be asked by reporters about Maryland man Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
  9. He has wrongfully been deported to El Salvador’s mega-prison, and whilst the Trump administration concedes it’s an error, and the Supreme Court has said he should be returned, the US has left it to El Salvador to decide what to do.
  12. Image source, Gett
  13. Kristi Noem, head of the Department of Homeland Security, has told Fox News she expects more people will be sent to El Salvador.
  14. “When I was in El Salvador visiting with President Bukele, we talked about the fact that he would accept more flights, would accept more individuals into Cecot”, she said. “So I’m looking forward to that partnership continuing.”
  15. Noem was also asked about Kilmar Ábrego García – a Maryland man who the Trump administration has alleged is a member of MS-13, though his lawyers dispute that – and dismissed a Maryland judge’s request for daily updates on the whereabouts of Ábrego García.
  16. “This judge has said he wants daily updates. I mean – shouldn’t we be focused on the updates of the American people that are being victimized by these criminal aliens?”
  19. Trump has not ruled out the possibility that he would try to send US inmates to the notorious Salvadorean prison Cecot to which he has deported Venezuelan nationals.
  20. Recently, a reporter asked him about Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s offer in February to house US prisoners in the facility, saying he would take them “for a fee”.
  21. “I love it,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One.
  22. “If he would take them, I’d be honoured to give them. I don’t know what the law says on that, but I can’t imagine the law would say anything different… If they can house these horrible criminals for a lot less money than it costs us, I’m all for it.”
  23. Trump has also suggested that those who vandalize Tesla cars should be sent to foreign prisons. Civil rights groups say the move would violate the US constitution.
  26. Image source, Reuters
  27. The Center for Terrorism Confinement (Cecot) is El Salvador’s maximum security jail housing some of the country’s most hardened criminals, including mass murderers and gang members billed as the “worst of the worst” by its government.
  28. The notorious jail has been in the headlines following Trump administration’s recent move to deport hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members there.
  29. The gargantuan complex is considered the largest prison in the Americas – with a capacity of 40,000 inmates – and is a trademark of President Nayib Bukele’s fight against crime.
  30. While the Cecot is heralded as the solution to the region’s gang problem by Bukele and his supporters, it has long been described by rights activists as “a black hole of human rights”.
  31. Miguel Sarre, a former member of the United Nations Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture, has described it as a “concrete and steel pit”.
  32. As part of a deal reached between Bukele and Trump, the administration is paying El Salvador $6m to hold those deported from the US.
  35. Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen has sent an open letter to El Salvador’s Presiednt Nayib Bukele requesting a meeting to discuss the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia whilst he’s on his trip to the United States.
  36. In the letter, Van Hollen writes that if Abrego Garcia is not returned to the US, the senator will head to El Salvador this week.
  37. Kilmar Abrego Garcia – who lives in Maryland, where Van Hollen is from – was mistakenly deported from the US to the Salvadoren mega-prison Cecot, according to the administration, and the US Supreme Court has ruled his must be returned must be “facilitated” by the US government.
  38. But the Trump administration is resisting attempts to bring him back, and claims he is a member of the MS-13 gang, even though they previously admitted his deportation was an “administrative error”.
  39. “Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia never should have been abducted and illegally deported,” Van Hollen writes.
  40. He says that because it seems no effort is being made for Abrego Garcia’s return, “we need to take additional action. That’s why I’ve requested to meet with President Bukele during his trip to the United States, and – if Kilmar is not home by midweek – I plan to travel to El Salvador this week to check on his condition and discuss his release.”
  43. Vanessa Buschschlüter
  44. Latin America editor
  45. When Bukele first ran for president in 2019, he campaigned on an anti-corruption platform whose slogan was “there’s enough money when no one steal”.
  46. While fighting crime and increasing security were already on his list of priorities back then, it wasn’t until March 2022 that he declared a state of emergency after a particularly violent weekend during which more than 70 people were killed.
  47. The state of emergence gives police additional powers, making it easier to arrest people and to hold hem for longer before trial.
  48. Since then, Bukele introduced a bill – successfully passed by Congress – which means that people suspected of gang membership can be judged in mass trials.
  49. His tough-on-crime approach has been welcomed by many, and won him re-election by a landslide last year. But legal experts have warned that the measures he brought in have eroded El Salvador’s justice system.
  50. Human rights groups have also denounced the abuses they say occur within the walls of El Salvador’s jail and the lack of legal recourse for those locked up inside them.
  53. Bernd Debusmann Jr
  54. Reporting from the White House
  55. Image source, Bernd Debusmann Jr/BBC News
  56. Just a few minutes ago, we reporters at the White House wrapped up a brief – but extremely tense – question-and-answer session with Stephen Miller, the White House’s deputy chief of staff and one of the main architects of the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
  57. Administration officials are often critical of the media during these “gaggles”, but this one stood out.
  58. Miller repeatedly admonished the media for, he says, not understanding US immigration policies and focusing too much on Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the immigrant sent back to El Salvador who is currently behind held in the infamous Cecot prison despite legal wrangling in the US over his case.
  59. “In my entire professional life, I’ve never received this many questions from the media about an American who was raped or murdered by an illegal alien. Legitimately, never,” he snapped at us.
  60. While he would not reveal whether Trump will ask for Abrego Garcia to be returned, Miller repeatedly pushed back on claims that the Maryland man was “mistakenly” deported to El Salvador and said that a previous court order that he could not be deported no longer applies because of his alleged ties to MS-13, now a designated foreign terrorist organisation.
  61. “No one was mistakenly sent anywhere,” Miller says. “He is in El Salvador. He is an illegal. He was deported to El Salvador. I would welcome anyone here to tell me what country they think we should be sending [Salvadoran] illegal aliens.”
  64. Image source, Reuters
  65. On 15 March, the US used an 18th-Century war-time law to deport over 200 Venezuelans to a maximum security prison in El Salvador, alleging they had ties to notorious Venezuelan gang Tren De Aragua.
  66. The government has not publicly provided evidence of their links to the gang, and relatives of many of the deportees have disputed the allegations.
  67. The Trump administration used The Alien Enemies Act to deport the Venezuelan nationals, which allows non-citizens to be deported without due legal process.
  68. The deportations are a part of a larger Trump administration crackdown on immigration to the US.
  71. Image source, Reuters
  72. The US government has admitted that it mistakenly deported a Maryland resident named Kilmar Ábrego García to El Salvador because of an “administrative error”.
  73. But the administration has resisted any attempt to bring the man back to the US, where his family live.
  74. The US Supreme Court has ordered them to “facilitate” his return, but administration lawyers have said they cannot because he is now in Salvadoran custody.
  75. This morning, Stephen Miller, homeland security adviser, said Garcia’s only options are to be deported to El Salvador or to a different country.
  76. On Friday, a judge ordered the administration to provide daily updates on what is being done to bring back the Maryland father of three.
  77. The government has alleged that Ábrego García, who is from El Salvador, is a member of the MS-13 gang, which his lawyer denies.
  78. An immigration judge granted Ábrego García protection from deportation years ago on the grounds that he might be at risk of persecution from local gangs in his home country.
  79. It is unclear what consequences the government could face for not providing the judge with updates on their efforts to get Ábrego García back to the US, or for failing to do so entirely.
  82. Bernd Debusmann Jr
  83. Reporting from the White House
  84. Image source, Bernd Debusmann Jr/BBC News
  85. I arrived here at the White House a short while ago to find a steady stream of reporters trickling in for Nayib Bukele’s visit, including a large contingent of the very active Spanish-language media in the US.
  86. As I walked in, I also saw military personnel in dress uniform walking the grounds, instructing fellow service members on the well-rehearsed ceremonial process for the arrival of a foreign leader.
  87. The visit will begin with Bukele’s arrival to the White House at approximately 1100 AM EST (1500 GMT).
  88. That will be quickly followed by a meeting between him and President Trump in the Oval Office. Part of that will be open to the media, and we’re likely to hear from both men at that same. They’ll have lunch after that.
  89. As an aside, over the last few days I chatted to some of the many, many Salvadorans I’ve met living in Washington DC – most of whom are enthusiastic Bukele supporters. Some polls have put his support in El Salvador at over 90%.
  90. Of the people I spoke to, almost all pointed to his efforts at fighting crime and gangs as the reason why.
  91. “I could barely go anywhere or do anything when I went to San Salvador before him,” one woman told me. “Now there’s much less to worry about.”
  94. Image source, Reuters
  95. Nayib Bukele of El Salvador is arguably Latin America’s most popular leader for his takedown of gangs. He loves to project his tough-on-crime persona by calling himself “the world’s coolest dictator”.
  96. A former mayor of his country’s capital, San Salvador, Bukele first won his presidential run in 2019 on a pledge to create a “new era”, taking on gang violence and corruption, and foster better relations with the US.
  97. He was re-elected for a second term in February 2024 in a landslide victory with 84% of the votes.
  98. At 43, his popularity has soared following a crackdown on crime which drove down the country’s murder rate, turning it into a country safer than Canada, according to Salvadorean government data.
  99. Despite his popularity, Bukele remains a controversial figure. Human rights groups say that thousands have been arbitrarily arrested during his anti-gang drive. An estimated 85,000 people have been arrested under emergency measure that have been repeatedly extended.
  100. He received a rock-star welcome last year at a conservative gathering outside Washington as he urged people to “unapologetically fight” against what he called “dark forces”.
  101. And now with a role in the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration crackdown, he has also helped establish himself as a crucial regional ally to the US president.
  104. It’s a meeting of two presidents – Donald Trump for the US and Nayib Bukele from El Salvador.
  105. Bukele is being hosted by Trump at the White House at around 11:00 local time, (16:00 BST), according to Trump’s schedule.
  106. The pair will then be speaking to the media from the Oval Office to kick things off.
  107. They will also have lunch together, which will be closed to the press.
  110. Imogen James
  111. Live reporter
  112. Image source, EPA
  113. Image caption,
  114. Prisoners at El Salvador’s Cecot
  115. We’ll be watching shortly as El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele meets US President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington.
  116. The small Central American country has been under much media attention since the US began sending hundreds of Venezuelan migrants – whom the Trump administration alleges are gang members – to its notorious mega-prison known as Cecot.
  117. The Centre for Terrorism Confinement, is a maximum-security facility built to house violent members of the MS-13 and 18th Street gangs.
  118. Now, Trump and Bukele – who once referred to himself on X as “the world’s coolest dictator” – have formed an important political alliance.
  119. We’ll be covering the meeting, scheduled to begin this morning Washington time, with our reporters at the White House to bring you the key details.
  120. Stick with us.

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