BREAKING: Trump Doubles Down on Sending American Citizens to El Salvadoran Prisons

We have breaking news that signals an escalation in the Trump administration’s ongoing war on constitutional protections and basic human rights.

This story is developing—and the stakes could not be higher. If you value independent reporting that holds power to account and brings you the stories mainstream outlets ignore, consider becoming a paid subscriber today.

In a just released clip from an interview with Fox News, Donald Trump was asked directly about the idea of deporting American citizens to El Salvador to be imprisoned in that country’s notorious maximum-security facilities. His response was as clear as it was chilling: “We want to do it. I would love to do that.”

This comes just one day after a hot mic caught Trump in the Oval Office speaking with El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. Trump was heard telling Bukele:
"Home-growns are next. The home-growns. You gotta build about five more places. It’s not big enough."

The phrase “home-growns” was in reference to American citizens whom Trump and his team view as dangerous or undesirable — particularly those accused of violent crimes.

Let’s be absolutely clear: Donald Trump is openly floating the deportation of American citizens to foreign prisons.

Under U.S. constitutional law, American citizens cannot be deported. The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees citizenship to anyone born or naturalized in the United States, and the Supreme Court has made it abundantly clear: citizenship is not conditional. It is not revocable because of a person’s political beliefs, criminal record, or public dissent.

Deporting American citizens — to any country, for any reason — would be a flagrant violation of due process, the right to a trial, and the ban on cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. It would also constitute extraordinary rendition, a policy internationally condemned as a violation of human rights.

Trump’s public embrace of El Salvador’s CECOT megaprison — where over 70,000 alleged gang members and suspects are held under extreme, rights-free conditions — isn’t just a geopolitical stunt. It’s a signal. It’s about exporting authoritarianism and importing fear.

In Bukele, Trump has found a kindred spirit — a leader who rules by decree, punishes critics, and fills prisons with political and ideological enemies. By asking Bukele to build “five more places,” Trump is fantasizing about a world where domestic enemies — read: his enemies — can be made to disappear beyond the reach of U.S. law.

This isn’t a joke. It’s not hyperbole. It’s the American president suggesting he wants to ship citizens to a foreign jail system because he finds them inconvenient or dangerous.