Trump says he'd deport US citizens convicted of crimes 'in a heartbeat' if legal

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala -- Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that the Trump administration would "have to make a decision" on whether to pursue El Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele's offer to accept convicted American criminals and U.S. permanent residents in the Central American country's prisons and President Donald Trump suggested, if legal, he'd "do it in a heartbeat."

"There are obviously legalities involved. We have a Constitution, we have all sorts of things, but it's a very generous offer," Rubio said during a news conference in Costa Rica on Tuesday.

"No one's ever made an offer like that -- 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," he continued.

Trump was bullish when asked about the offer at the White House later Tuesday.

"These are sick people. If we could get them out of our country, we have other countries that would take him. They could," Trump told reporters.

"It's no different than a prison system, except it would be a lot less expensive," he added. "And it would be a great deterrent -- send them to other countries," he said.

"We'll have to find that out legally. I'm just saying if we had the legal right to do it, I would do it in a heartbeat," he added. "I don't know if we do or not, we're looking at that right now."

One legal expert said that deporting American citizens to serve out sentences in foreign prisons would be a violation of the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which bars "cruel and unusual" punishments.

"This is so incredibly illegal that there's not even a hint of possible way to do it under any circumstances whatsoever," Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council posted on X.

"It violates international law and the U.S. constitution. Period. End of story," he continued.

When Rubio announced the proposal from Bukele on Monday, he called the it "an act of extraordinary friendship."

The secretary also said that Bukele had agreed to take in foreign nationals deported from the U.S. that are suspected of being gang members, a move with significantly more legal precedent.

"[Bukele] has agreed to accept for deportation any illegal alien in the United States who is a criminal, from any nationality -- be they MS-13 or Tren de Araqua -- and house them in his jails," Rubio declared. "He has offered to house in his jails dangerous American criminals in custody in our country, including those of U.S. citizens and legal residents."

Rubio called the deal the "most unprecedented and extraordinary migratory agreement anywhere in the world" and said, "no country has ever made an offer of friendship such as this."

"We are 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 in the people of El Salvador," Rubio said after they met for more than two-and-a-half hours.

"More details will be forthcoming" about the agreement struck between the United States and El Salvador, said Rubio, before taking an opportunity to praise Bukele's leadership -- describing his polarizing clampdown on El Salvador's security as "difficult decisions" that had to be made.