Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said on Sunday he does not think the law would allow President Trump to send United States citizens convicted of violent crimes to Salvadoran prisons, despite the president’s suggestion that he might be open to that possibility.
“No, ma’am. Nor should it be considered appropriate or moral,” Kennedy told NBC News’s Kristen Welker, when asked on “Meet the Press” whether he thinks such a move would be legal.
“We have our own laws,” he continued. “We have the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution. We shouldn’t send prisoners to foreign countries in my judgment.”
Trump, in a meeting Monday with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, indicated he would be open to sending American citizens who are violent criminals to El Salvador to be held in a notorious prison there. He told reporters that Attorney General Pam Bondi is looking into the law on the matter.
“If it’s a homegrown criminal, I have no problem,” Trump said. “Now, we’re studying the laws right now. Pam is studying. If we can do that, that’s good. And I’m talking about violent people. I’m talking about really bad people. Really bad people. Every bit as bad as the ones coming in.”
Experts have said that there is no legal way for the government to deport legal U.S. citizens to another country. Still, Trump and other administration officials have raised the idea multiple times in recent months, causing concern among Democrats and legal experts.
Bukele has worked with the Trump administration to take in hundreds of deportees, including many not from El Salvador, and hold them in a massive prison that has long drawn criticism from human rights watchdogs.
