The Trump administration has deported hundreds of migrants, who claim to be members of the MS-13-District Gang, by terrorists, of the notorious mega-prison of Salvador’s Salvador.
Can US citizens be convicted of violent crimes?
“If this is a criminal at home, I have no problem,” President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval cabinet on Monday during his meeting with President of Salvadorant Naib bouquet.
“If we can do this, it’s good. And I’m talking about violent people. I’m talking about really bad people. Really bad people. Everyone as bad as those who come in.”
Before reporters enter the room, Trump even offered to a bouquet, he has to build more prisons since the mega-prisoner is not “big enough” to hold the “domestic” he wants to send from the United States
“We are currently studying the laws,” Trump said after saying earlier that “they should always obey the law.”
He made a similar comment on sending Americans to foreign prisons in February, saying that the laws would then have to be verified.
Several legal experts have told ABC News that any such scenario will be unconstitutional.
“I do not think that any president who understands the rule of law or who respects the constitutional democracy we live in would even think in these conditions,” said David Leopold, a lawyer and a former president of the American Immigration Bar Association.
“The United States is the home of the United States citizens. And citizens cannot be deported, a period,” Leopold said.
President Donald Trump meets with President of El Salvador Naib Bouke in the White House Oval Cabinet in Washington, April 14, 2025.
Kevin Lamark/Reuters
“There are numerous constitutional provisions that support the President and the Prosecutor General to send US criminals to prisons in other nations,” said Michael Gerhard, a professor of constitutional law at the University of North Carolina.
Several administration employees are pressed to develop what legal grounds they think they would allow them to do so. So far, they have stood up.
“Well, Jesse, these are the Americans for whom he says, who have committed the most abundant crimes in our country. And crime will decrease dramatically because it has given us a directive to do America again,” said Prosecutor Pam Bondi, who Trump specifically said he was dealing with the question.
“These people must be closed as long as they can, while the law allows. We will not let them anywhere. And if we have to build more prisons in our country, we will do it,” Bondi said, mentioning that he sends Americans to prisons in the US
The White House press release was asked on Tuesday whether deportation of US citizens in prisons in Central America is legal or if the administration will have to change the law.
“Well, this is another question that the president raised,” Levitt replied. “This is a legal question that the president is looking at.”
The White House press release Caroline Levitus spoke with reporters in the James Brady press hall in the White House, April 15, 2025 in Washington.
Alex Brandon/app
Trump and other employees said they had deported American criminals who commit “outrageous” crimes. Trump on Monday cites criminals who “push people in the subway” or “hit adult ladies on the back of the head.”
“Of course, we have the right as a government to close people who pose a danger to society, even to execute people who are a danger to society, but they are Americans, they remain here. This is the fundamental right to citizenship and has always been,” says Amanda Frost, a professor at the University of Virginia.
Any effort to deport an American citizen in a prison in El Salvador (his Sekot prison is criticized for alleged human rights violations) or elsewhere, there will probably be a violation of the eighth amendment, which prohibits a brutal and unusual punishment, Frost said.
Salvadoran’s prison escorts, claims members of the Venezuelan band Tren de Aragua and the MS-13 gang recently deported by the US Government in Sekot Prison, El Salvador, April 12, 2025.
Presidency’s press secretary through Reuters
A potential door may be the Trump administration to try to focus on naturalized US citizens who may lose their immigration status if they have committed betrayal or counterfeit information during the naturalization process. But these cases are rare.
“If someone is a naturalized citizen, there may be an effort to denate this person and deport them,” Frost said. “But then it should be that they have committed some fraud or mistake in the process of their naturalization. The non -holding crime cannot be the basis for the denaturalization and deportment of someone.”
However, experts were worried about Trump’s comments that they wanted to send American citizens to foreign prisons – especially after the legitimate battle on Kilmar Abango Garcia continued to play.
Abrego Garcia takes place in Cecot after being deported last month last month last month. Trump and other employees claim that he is a member of the MS-13 gang, although the administration has provided little evidence in court.
The Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” the return of Abrego Garcia to the United States and to say that it was deported illegally. On Monday, Bondi said he was “from Salvador” to return him, and Salvadoran President Bechele said he would not.
“This is a freezing,” Frost said, “because if that is their opinion, then if we assume that they can be able to get people out of the country, they could throw their hands and say,” We can do nothing about it. “
ABC News senior political correspondent Rachel Scott on Tuesday asked Trump’s “border king” Tom Homan if he believed it was illegal to send Americans to Salvador prison. Homan said he hadn’t talked to the president yet.
“The concept is just so absurd,” said Leopold, former president of the US Immigration Bar Association. “If it wasn’t so horrifying that a sedentary president of the United States so freely uses rhetoric to deport citizens of the United States, it would be funny.”
