Marco Rubio's visit to El Salvador

Donald Trump's advisor Stephen Miller said a short time ago that president Nayib Bukele was offering the US "tremendous levels of cooperation" on immigration, and now we know what he meant.  During the visit of Secretary of State Marco Rubio to El Salvador this week, Bukele offered to sign an agreement not only to take back Salvadorans from the US, but also to accept deportees from other nations, and even to imprison US citizen criminals for a fee. From the State Department press statement:

Multiple agreements were struck to fight the waves of illegal mass migration currently destabilizing the entire region. President Bukele agreed to take back all Salvadoran MS-13 gang members who are in the United States unlawfully. He also promised to accept and incarcerate violent illegal immigrants, including members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, but also criminal illegal migrants from any country. And in an extraordinary gesture never before extended by any country, President Bukele offered to house in his jails dangerous American criminals, including U.S. citizens and legal residents.

Bukele tweeted out his offer to imprison US citizens in return for cash:

From the CNN report on Rubio's visit to El Salvador

“It is a bizarre and unprecedented proposal being made potentially between two authoritarian, populist, right wing leaders seeking a transactional relationship,” said Gellman, an international politics scholar. “It’s not rooted in any sort of legal provision and likely violates a number of international laws relating to the rights of migrants.”

My comments on this visit:

1.   It was yet another publicity success for Bukele.  His offer made headlines around the world along with pictures of his CECOT mega-prison. The idea that US citizens could be transferred the Salvadoran prisons to serve out their sentences is clearly illegal, but the press worldwide broadcast the offer anyways.  Bukele got to have plenty of photos smiling and laughing with his friend, the secretary of state of one of the world's super powers.

2.   Although Rubio asserts that one reason for this week's trip to Central America is to combat the influence of China, I don't think that Bukele took Rubio on a tour of the Salvadoran president's favorite projects: the new national library built by China or the $100 million soccer stadium which China is currently building for the country.

3.  Bukele very much wants MS-13 leaders like "Crook" held in the US on terrorism charges to be returned to El Salvador.   This was confirmed by his ambassador to the US, Milena Mayorga:

“What president (Bukele) did tell him, and he was very blunt: ‘I want you to send me the gang leaders who are in the United States.’ He told him exactly: ‘We want them to be deported.’ I think it is a matter of honor.”     

Bukele wants them back in El Salvador before they can testify in US courts about his negotiations with MS-13 to lower homicide levels in the country.  It's not clear that the US Justice Department will agree to this request to end the terrorism case against the top command of MS-13.   The case was commenced during the first Trump term, and includes allegations of many crimes committed in the US as well as El Salvador.

 4.   The "safe third country agreement" could be unpopular in El Salvador.  Persons fleeing persecution around the world would be sent involuntarily to El Salvador with the instructions they can seek asylum in the Central American country. But El Salvador has no meaningful asylum processing infrastructure.  How is the Salvadoran public going to react if they see plane loads of migrants being unloaded at the country's airport, with scant resources at a time when Salvadorans are very concerned about the economy in the country and the government is already cutting resources for education and healthcare?  

In addition to the asylum related agreements, El Salvador is also agreeing to receive deportees whose home countries are unwilling to receive them.  Bukele may have a hard time explaining to Salvadorans how this agreement benefits them, especially as the US also steps up deportations of their family members who are responsible for sending remittances and family support.