By Michael Capuano
FAIR
Newly confirmed Secretary of State Marco Rubio has finished a week-long first trip through Latin America, making headlines at virtually every stop. The Secretary’s visit to El Salvador was particularly newsworthy, as during discussions about illegal migration, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele offered to accept convicted criminal aliens deported from the U.S. These criminals, he said, could even complete their prison sentences in one of El Salvador’s mega-prisons. The offer was made regardless of the nationality of the aliens, even if the criminals are U.S. citizens, but they must have convictions. President Bukele said the price per inmate would be relatively low, but would be enough to make his prison system “sustainable.”
The offer from Bukele was an early win for President Trump, who has been searching for available detention space to fulfill his pledge to deport millions of illegal aliens from the U.S. Congress is expected to increase the funding for detention beds, but until it acts, the Department of Homeland Security has been focused on finding creative ways to expand detention space. Last week, the Department of Defense announced it will start housing criminal aliens, and in particular, members of the gang Tren de Aragua, at the U.S. migrant facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
At a signing ceremony with President Bukele, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio remarked multiple times on the extraordinary nature of the offer from El Salvador. “No country’s ever made an offer of friendship such as this.” He continued, “We are just profoundly grateful. I spoke to President Trump about this earlier today, and it’s just one more sign of what an incredible friend we have here in President Bukele and the people of El Salvador.”
The proposal triggered outrage from open borders advocates. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council angrily stated, “This is so incredibly illegal that there’s not even a hint of possible way to do it under any circumstances whatsoever… It violates international law and the U.S. constitution [sic]. Period. End of story.” Buried under that furor, though, is the possibility of another immigration agreement, broader than simply accepting deportees, that could significantly change how the U.S. deals with criminal illegal aliens.
Even before Secretary Rubio’s trip, media reports indicated that the Trump administration is planning to revive safe third country agreements with multiple countries in Central America. During President Trump’s first term, his administration negotiated Asylum Cooperative Agreements (ACAs) with Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. These ACAs would have required illegal migrants coming towards the U.S. to seek asylum in those nations before they would be eligible to claim asylum in the U.S. to prevent migrants from “asylum shopping”. The first Trump administration also restricted asylum in the U.S. for illegal aliens who forfeit the protection of designated safe third countries, including Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. Unfortunately, the former Biden administration scrapped these hard-won agreements as soon as it came into office.
From El Salvador, Secretary Rubio traveled to Guatemala, where President Bernardo Arévalo made a similar but less expansive offer to the United States. Arévalo agreed to take in 40 percent more deportation flights of its nationals from the U.S. In Secretary Rubio’s words, Guatemala would take in individuals whom the U.S. would then “assist getting them…to their final destinations and their homelands.” This essentially means the U.S. deporting illegal aliens to Guatemala, from where they would be removed to their home countries with U.S. assistance.
As deporting criminal aliens has clearly been one of President Trump’s top priorities, Secretary Rubio is already making progress on the operational details necessary to achieve that goal: broader cooperation on illegal immigration in Latin America. Partners like El Salvador will allow the U.S. more flexibility in dealing with illegal aliens who are already here.
