By MATTHEW LEE, AP Diplomatic Writer
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that El Salvador’s offer to accept and jail violent American criminals raises clear legal issues but described it as “very generous” and said that President Donald Trump would make a decision on whether to accept it.
A day earlier, Rubio reached an unusual agreement with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to accept U.S. deportees of any nationality, including American citizens who are imprisoned for violent crimes.
“There are obviously legalities involved. We have a Constitution,” Rubio said at a news conference Tuesday in San Jose with Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves. “But it’s a very generous offer. No one’s ever made an offer like that. And to outsource, at a fraction of the cost, at least some of the most dangerous and violent criminals that we have in the United States. But obviously, the administration will have to make a decision.”
Rubio met Chaves and discussed immigration — a Trump administration priority — as America’s top diplomat also faces major upheaval at the U.S. Agency for International Development that has left many at the aid agency and the State Department uneasy and fearful for their jobs.
It comes a day after he met with Bukele, who confirmed the offer in a post on X, saying El Salvador has “offered the United States of America the opportunity to outsource part of its prison system.” He said his country would accept only “convicted criminals” and would charge a fee that “would be relatively low for the U.S. but significant for us, making our entire prison system sustainable.”
The State Department describes El Salvador’s overcrowded prisons as “harsh and dangerous.” Its country information webpage says, “In many facilities, provisions for sanitation, potable water, ventilation, temperature control, and lighting are inadequate or nonexistent.”
El Salvador has lived under a state of…
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