President Donald Trump on Monday is hosting El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, the self-described “world’s coolest dictator” who has become a key ally in the administration’s controversial migrant deportations.
The two men greeted each other outside the White House and shook hands before heading inside for a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office.
There, they will likely face reporter questions on the use of El Salvador’s notorious mega-prison CECOT to house migrants removed from the U.S. and the ongoing legal dispute regarding the wrongful deportation of a migrant from Maryland, Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
The Supreme Court has ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” the return of Abrego Garcia. Trump on Friday said, “If the Supreme Court said bring somebody back, I would tell them to do that. I respect the Supreme Court.”
Trump appeared to amend that statement, though, in a social media post over the weekend where he suggested the fate of those deported now rests with Bukele.
“Looking forward to seeing President Bukele, of El Salvador, on Monday! Our Nations are working closely together to eradicate terrorist organizations, and build a future of Prosperity. President Bukele has graciously accepted into his Nation’s custody some of the most violent alien enemies of the World and, in particular, the United States,” Trump wrote. “These barbarians are now in the sole custody of El Salvador, a proud and sovereign Nation, and their future is up to President B and his Government.”
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One, during the flight from Palm Beach to Joint Base Andrews, as he returns to the White House in Washington, April 13, 2025.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
The Justice Department argued in court filings that the courts had “no authority” to direct how the executive branch engages in foreign relations and argued the administration could not interfere with El Salvador’s sovereignty. Another hearing is set in the case for Tuesday.
Ahead of Monday’s meeting, President Trump said he thought Bukele was “doing a fantastic job” and “taking care of a lot of problems that we have that we really wouldn’t be able to take care of from a cost standpoint.”
“We have some very bad people in that prison, people that should have never been allowed into our country, people that murder drug dealers, some of the worst people on Earth are in that prison and he’s able to do that,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he returned to Washington from Florida on Sunday.
When pressed further about the alleged human rights abuses reported at CECOT, President Trump said, “I don’t see it. I don’t see that happening.”
The Trump administration has deported hundreds of migrants they allege to be Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador, though have done so with seemingly little due process.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a social media post over the weekend, said the efforts continued with another 10 alleged criminals associated with MS-13 and Tren de Aragua deported to El Salvador.
Rubio wrote that the “alliance” between Trump and Bukele “has become an example for security and prosperity in our hemisphere.”
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele delivers a speech during the inauguration of the Key Institute, a private institution of higher education specializing in engineering and science in San Salvador, March 19, 2025.
Marvin Recinos/AFP via Getty Images
Salvadoran prison guards escort alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and the MS-13 gang recently deported by the U.S. government at the CECOT prison, in Tecoluca, El Salvador April 12, 2025.
Secretaria de Prensa de la Presidencia via Reuters
Plus, Trump and several officials have floated sending U.S. citizens convicted of violent crimes to the infamous El Salvador prison — something legal experts have said would violate the Constitution.
“The president has discussed this idea quite a few times publicly. He’s also discussed it privately,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters last week.
“These would be heinous, violent criminals who have broken our nation’s laws repeatedly. And these are violent repeat offenders in American streets,” Leavitt continued.
“The president has said if it’s legal, right, if there is a legal pathway to do that, he’s not sure. We are not sure if there is. It’s an idea that he has simply floated and has discussed, very publicly, as in the effort of transparency,” she said.
