The Donald Trump administration is seeking a deal with its Salvadorean counterpart to send members of Venezuelan-born gang Tren de Aragua to its prisons, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
The possibility is set to be addressed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio when he visits the country during the coming days as part of his first international trip on the post.
The Trump administration also wants the Central American nation to be designated as a "safe third country," something that would entail it taking migrants from other countries and require them to request asylum there before doing so in the U.S.
Tren de Aragua has been declared a foreign terrorist organization by the Trump administration, something that enables the government to impose financial sanctions, block bank accounts, deport members, bar their entry into the country, and even conduct security or military operations against the group.
Should deported members end up in Salvadorean prisons, they would face some of the harshest conditions for inmates, who are confined to their cells for all but 30 minutes a day, can't receive visits and have to sleep in stainless steel cots without mattresses.
Known as CECOT, the largest prison in the country is on the edge of a jungle about 75 kilometers (47 miles) southeast of the capital San Salvador. Inmates only leave their cells if they have court hearings, which they attend via video link, while exercise is conducted in the hallways. They eat mainly pasta and beans, with the government expressly banning meat.
Salvadorean President Nayib Bukele has already had a conversation with Trump. A White House statement detailed that the "he two leaders discussed working together to stop illegal immigration and crack down on transnational gangs like Tren de Aragua." "President Trump also praised President Bukele's leadership in the region and the example he sets for other nations in the Western Hemisphere;" the brief text reads.
Originally published on Latin Times
