U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to hold meetings Tuesday with officials in Costa Rica and later in Guatemala as part of a tour of Latin America focused on migration, security cooperation and countering Chinese influence in the region.
Rubio was in El Salvador for talks Monday with President Nayib Bukele, and he announced that Bukele had offered to accept any deportees from the United States, regardless of their nationality.
“He’s also offered to do the same for dangerous criminals currently in custody and serving their sentences in the United States even though they’re U.S. citizens or legal residents,” Rubio said.
The U.S. government cannot legally deport U.S. citizens.
Rubio said El Salvador would fully cooperate on the repatriation of Salvadorans who are in the United States illegally, calling the deal “the most unprecedented, extraordinary, extraordinary migratory agreement anywhere in the world.”
Bukele said on X that his government offered the U.S. “the opportunity to outsource part of its prison system,” with El Salvador accepting a fee to hold convicted criminals in its Terrorism Confinement Center mega prison.
“The fee would be relatively low for the U.S. but significant for us, making our entire prison system sustainable,” Bukele said.
The State Department said Rubio also raised strategies to counter the influence of the Chinese Communist Party in the Western Hemisphere to safeguard the sovereignty and interests of both nations and the region.
Rubio announced that he is now the acting administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development but has delegated his authority to another official. He stressed that the agency must align U.S. foreign aid with national interests and comply with State Department policy directives.
The State Department said the MOU marks an initial step toward building a robust civil nuclear partnership, aiming to enhance energy security and foster economic cooperation.
