These are the instances in which Donald Trump has spoken about his desire to send U.S. Citizens to foreign prisons.

Unfortunately, the media’s coverage of these instances, including today’s divulgences with Bukele present, have provided little more than small quotes. These small quotes do a disservice to the seriousness behind Trump’s words. Watching and transcribing Trump’s thoughts in full on the subject has provided a much more concerning perception: He’s serious, and his plan may become reality.

Trained by the discipline of history, I felt it necessary to produce the historical record of the tyranny of the potential enslavement of American citizens to a foreign government by Donald Trump. I hope that if the knowledge of Trump’s words is not helpful to us in the present, it may serve those in the future.

To better understand these transcripts, I have provided and will update annotations over the coming days.

I will be posting separate analytical writings about Trump’s plan over the coming days.

February 4th – The Revelation

In the Oval Office on February 4th, after learning of an agreement between Secretary of State Rubio and the president of El Salvador, President Trump revealed his desire to send American citizens to El Salvador.

question 1 – The First Time

Reporter: Secretary Rubio announced a deal this week that would allow potentially American citizens who are criminals to be put in a different country. Is that something you’re looking to do?

Trump:  Well no I I didn’t know that he announced that yet. But if he did, it’s fine yeah. We have, uh hard, hardened criminals, horrible people. You see them pushing people into Subways. The train is coming last week. Guy walking around and just sees somebody waiting for the train. Train’s coming 40 miles an hour. And he gets pushed into the subway. And that happens all the time. These are sick people. Uhh… If we could get them out of our country, we have other countries that would take them.¹Trump also mentioned other countries on April 14: “We have others that we’re negotiating with too.” They could, it’s no different than a prison system, except it would be a lot less expensive. And it would be a great deterrent. Send them to other countries. We, we want, if we could go a step further,²“A step further” is the phrase Trump also used to preclude his mention of sending American citizens to foreign prisons on
April 14. in other words, we’re talking about getting the criminals out of our country that come in through other countries illegally, right. The illegal migrants, as I call them. Well, we have people that are just as bad as them, in our country.³Trump juxtaposes deporting migrants with deporting Americans who are “just as bad.” If we could get them out, I’d be very happy to get them…

question 2 – The Law

Reporter: The president of El Salvador said that he would, uh wanted you to pay a fee for that. Would you pay that?

Trump: Well it’s a lot, very small fee, compared to what we pay to private prisons.

Reporter: But under what (Trump continues speaking) authority…?

Trump: …And a very very small fee. I don’t know we’ll have to find that out legally.⁴This is the first time Trump mentions legality. (A few reporters interrupt) I’m just saying if we had the legal right to do it, I would do it in a heartbeat. I don’t know if we do or not. We’re looking at that right now.⁵Trump again on April 6, Leavitt on April 8, and Trump on April 14 all mentioned that the legality of this matter was being looked into. On April 14, he named Pam Pondi and Stephen Miller as being involved in discussions about legality. But we could make deals where we get these animals out of our country. And you know if you take the shooters, the people that hit old ladies in the back of the head⁶Trump has a particular interest in mentioning old women getting hit in the head. He mentioned it on Feb 4 (“the people that hit old ladies in the back of the head with a baseball bat when they’re not looking.”), Apr 6 (“if we have somebody that bops an old woman over the head”), and Apr 14 (“if they hit people with baseball bats over their head that happen to be 90 years old”). with a baseball bat when they’re not looking. They walk down the street. Uh.. The people that you, and you see it, the people that take out a gun and shoot you for no reason at all. If we could get these animals out of our country and put them in a different country under the supervision of somebody that made a relatively small fee to maintain these people. Because you know what? Uhh.. These are criminals. You call them hardened criminal. Uhh.. They’ve been in jail 40 times. There’s one 42 times. And every time the person gets out. It’s a he. Every time he gets out he commits another crime within 24 hours. And it’s a heinous crime. It’s a rough crime. We don’t want these people in our country either. We don’t want them in our country. (Reporters begin to shout) If we, if we had the option. If we had the option to get them out and let them be based in some other country at a fraction of the cost. And frankly, they could keep them.⁷This is not a temporary prison sentence with a return to the United States. This is a banishment of a citizen from the United States into the property of a foreign government. Because these people are never going to be any good. That person that has been arrested 42 times or 22 times or 17 times, and is all in for manslaughter and everything else, and only gets out because of a very weak judicial system that only goes after people like Trump.⁸While discussing potentially the most offensive violation of a citizen’s rights, Trump can’t help but make himself the victim of the criminal legal system. They don’t go after the criminals. They don’t go after people like this. And they laugh at our law. If that took place you would have a lot less crime automatically.

question 3 – Comparison of Migrants and Citizens

Reporter: On Guantanamo Bay, is, is… (Trump interrupts)

Trump: Yeah..

Reporter: …is there space there to accommodate… (Trump interrupts) …these people?

Trump: there’s a lot of space to accommodate a lot of people. Yeah. So we’re going to use it.

Reporter: Can you talk a little… (Trump interrupts) …bit about why…?

Trump: We have it. It’s already up. It’s. We have it for nothing. But we can do less expensive and even more secure. Uh.. We’ve had other countries come to us saying we would love to do that we would love to take your criminals and we’ll maintain that we’ll you know we’ll be their jail.⁹Trump again mentions that there are multiple countries interested in taking prisoners of the US Uh.. And I’m only talking for the most severe cases. Like, I watched that guy on tape pushing the man into the subway last week. That man that did that is a real bad guy. Many many arrests. And you think you’re going to convince him someday to be good and a wonderful, uh wonderful, citizen for our country. It’s never going to happen. I want to get those people out. I’d love to get them out along with the illegal migrants. The migrants are rough. But we have some bad ones too. I’d like to get them out.¹⁰In case you thought Trump wasn’t talking about citizens, he let you know otherwise here. It would be all subject to the laws of our land. And we’re looking at that to see if we can do it.¹¹Another mention of the group effort to determine legality.

question 4 – Irredeemable Citizens

Reporter: (press rabble) …have offered to take American citizens… (Trump interjects) …

Trump: Say it.

Reporter: What  other countries have offered to these take American (Trump interrupts) citizens who [unintelligible]…?

Trump: Uh numerous. Many.

Reporter: Can you… (Trump interrupts)

Trump: And Marco¹²Marco Rubio brought it up today. I’m glad he did. Uh…. because a lot of people are thinking it when I watch some of the crimes being committed in New York City, in Chicago. Look at Chicago. The, the volume of crime that they have, and the viciousness of the crime. It’s these people are horrible people. And if somebody thinks they’re going to be wonderful citizens someday. They’re wrong.¹³Trump has reiterated more than once in this Oval Office meeting that he believes that this class of citizens is irredeemable. It appears that their irredeemably make it so that Trump believes he should be able to exile them from the US. It’s not gonna happen. It’s not gonna happen. They’re bad. These are hard tough criminals. In many cases, they’re crazy. They’re absolutely crazy. But they’re very dangerous. If I could get them out of the country and be in some other country where they’d like to have them because they make a small fee compared to what we’d pay to a private prison, or to, you know, put them in one of our prisons that cost even more money. I think it would be great. I’d love to get them the hell out of our country. (Trump ending press time) Thank you very much, everybody.

(video)

March 21 – To El Salvador for Musk

In a post on Truth Social¹⁴“Truth Social,” Truth Social, accessed April 14, 2025, https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/114200244380161257., Trump wrote:

I look forward to watching the sick terrorist thugs get 20 year jail sentences for what they are doing to Elon Musk and Tesla.¹⁵In response to Pam Bondi announcing charges carrying potential 20 year imprisonment penalties for alleged vandals of Tesla related property Perhaps they could serve them in the prisons of El Salvador, which have become so recently famous for such lovely conditions!¹⁶Trump suggests the possibility that people, who are citizens, charged with crimes concerning property related to Musk’s company could be sent to a foreign prison.

April 6 – The Law Can’t Possibly Disagree

On Air Force One with press¹⁷“I Love That”: Trump Endorses Sending American Citizen Prisoners To El Salvador Prison, 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7CpBnVM1GQ.

Reporter: To go back to El Salvador, the president there said he would be willing to take American citizens in the federal prison population. Is that one of the ideas you’re going to be discussing?

Trump: Well, I love that. If we could take some of our twenty-time wise guys that push people into subways and that hit people over the back of the head and that purposely run people over in cars. Uh, if he would take them, I’d be honored to give them.¹⁸A President of the United States honored to give citizens to a foreign power. I don’t know what the law says on that, but I can’t imagine the law would say anything different.¹⁹Trump is less deferential to the unknown legalities of law here. He admits his ignorance of the law. However, he proclaims his belief that the law can’t possibly oppose what he desires in this instance. If they can house these horrible criminals for a lot less money than it costs us, I’m all for it. But I’ I’d only do, uh, according to the law. But I have suggested that, you know, why should it stop just at people that cross the border illegally. Uh, we have some horrible criminals, American grown and born.²⁰Trump explicitly notes that the people whom he wants to hand over to other governments are American citizens. And if we have somebody that bops an old woman over the head, if we have somebody that, uh, is in jail 20 times and goes back and shoots people all over the place and then has a bad judge or a bad prosecutor that do nothing about them. All they worry about is politics. They don’t worry about that. I think if we could get, uh, El Salvador or somebody, but, to take them I’d be very happy with it. But I have to see what the law says.

April 8 – Private Discussions

Leavitt to press in the press briefing room²¹“WATCH: Trump ‘simply Floated’ Idea of Deporting U.S. Citizens, White House’s Leavitt Says,” PBS News, April 8, 2025, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-trump-simply-floated-idea-of-deporting-u-s-citizens-white-houses-leavitt-says.

Reporter: Over the weekend, President Trump said that he would be willing to have US citizens deported to El Salvador with the cooperation of President Bukele. How would that work legally? And how many people would potentially be available for that operation?

Leavitt: So, the president has discussed this idea quite a few times publicly. He’s also discussed it privately.²²If Trump has been discussing the removal of citizens from the United States in private, the matter is more serious than Trump “floating” the idea. How involved are Bondi, Rubio, Miller, etc.? Uh, you’re referring to the president’s idea for American citizens to potentially be deported. These would be heinous, violent criminals who have broken our nation’s laws repeatedly. Uh, and these are violent repeat offenders in American streets. The president has said, if it’s legal, right, if there is a legal pathway to do that. He’s not sure. We are not sure if there is.²³Speaking in the present and plural gives further credence to the notion that the administration is actively discussing the possibility of removing citizens. It’s an idea that he has simply floated and has discussed very publicly, as in the effort of transparency

April 14 – Bukele Visits

private conversation with Bukele – “Homegrowns are next”

Conversation in the Oval Office between Trump and Bukele live-streamed through Bukele’s X account²⁴This is a conversation that Trump likely did not know was being streamed. Video available Marisa Kabas, “Holy Shit. Video Posted by President Bukele’s Team on X Shows the Moments before His Press Conference with Trump in Which Trump Tells Him…,” Post, Bluesky, April 14, 2025, https://bsky.app/profile/marisakabas.bsky.social/post/3lmrzhj4nzk2x. ABC News article: A. B. C. News, “‘Homegrowns Are next’: Trump Doubles down on Sending American ‘criminals’ to Foreign Prisons,” ABC News, accessed April 14, 2025, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/homegrowns-trump-doubles-sending-convicted-us-citizens-foreign/story?id=120802863.

(Bukele and Trump quietly speaking to eachother)
Bukele: …demanding the people wanting to change everything
Trump: And they want you. They demand you. They love you. They love what you are doing.
Bukele: Well you know…(unintelligble)…supporters
Trump: I want to to do. You know what I’m going to do.²⁵“I’m going to do.” Trump was not as declarative in previous public remarks. In public remarks, he speaks about his desire to do such, but defers to undetermined legality. (unintelligble) homegrown criminals next.²⁶Trump on April 6 used the phrase “American grown and born” when discussing the matter publicly: “we have some horrible criminals, American grown and born.” So it is clear that he is referring to citizens when saying “homegrown criminals.”
(Trump raising his voice and now apparently turned toward and talking to other people in the room)
I said homegrowns are next. The homegrowns.²⁷At this point in the video and audio, Trump appears to be speaking to other people out of view in the Oval Office. Are these members of the cabinet who were at today’s public meeting? Trump’s nonchalant descriptor of “homegrowns” makes it appear as though the other people in the room are familiar with the term, its usage, and Trump’s context. But you’ve got to build about five more places.²⁸Trump is hinting that the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) (Terrorism Confinement Center) is not large enough for Trump’s operation of removing citizens from the U.S. to El Salvador.
Bukele: Yeah. It gets big(?).
Trump: Alright.
(people off camera in Oval Office laughing, unintelligble speaking)
Trump: It’s not big enough.
(Trump turns his attention to showing off the Oval Office to Bukele)

Press Meeting

With president of El Salvador in the Oval Office in front of the press²⁹President Trump and El Salvador President Nayib Bukele Speak from the Oval Office — 4/14/2025, 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogLw7I2BWO0.

question 1 – Bondi and Miller Involved

Reporter: Would the U.S. be willing to pay for those facilities to be opened if new ones were going to be built?

Trump (23:00)³⁰The approximate timestamp in the video above: I’d do something. We’d help him out. Yeah. We’d help him out. They’re great facilities, very strong facilities. And uh they don’t play games. I’d like to go a step further. I mean, I say, I said it to Pam³¹Pam Bondi I don’t know what the laws are. We always have to obey the laws. But we also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways, that hit elderly ladies on the back of the head with a baseball bat when they’re not looking, that are absolute monsters. I’d like to include them in the group of people to get them out of the country, but you’ll have to be looking at the laws on that, Steve.³²Trump instructing Stephen Miller to determine legality. Okay?

question 2 – Not a Special Category of Person

Reporter (34:50)³³The approximate timestamp in the video above: And just a follow up question, a clarification, you mentioned that you’re open to deporting uh individuals that aren’t foreign aliens but are criminals to El Salvador.

Trump: Love it.

Reporter: Does that in does that include potentially US citizens, fully naturalized Americans?

Trump: If they’re criminals, and if they hit people with baseball bats over their head that happen to be 90 years old, and if uh if they rape 87-year-old women in Coney Island Brooklyn, yeah yeah that includes them. What, do you think there’s special category of person?³⁴Actually, citizens are a category of person who possess legal rights. These rights absolutely include the right not to be transferred from the possession of the United States to imprisonment in a foreign country. They’re as bad as anybody that comes in. We have bad ones too and I’m all for it because we can do things with the president for less money and have great security. And we have a huge prison population. We have a huge number of prisons, and then we have the private prisons. And some are operated well, I guess, and some aren’t. But uh he does a great job with that. We have others that we’re negotiating with too.³⁵Trump previously described other countries being interested on February 4. But no if it’s if it’s if it’s a homegrown criminal, I have no problem. Now, we we’re studying the laws right now. Pam is studying.³⁶Trump says that Pam Bondi, the Attorney General, is currently investigating a way to remove citizens. If we can do that, that’s good. And I’m talking about violent people. I’m talking about really bad people, really bad people, every bit as bad as the ones coming in. And I made the statement when I heard about this a long time ago, now four years ago, when I heard that this guy was having open borders, I said every single criminal from all over the world is going to be dumped into our country. And that’s what happened. Jails, the jails of the Congo were emptied out. The jails of Venezuela were emptied out. And you know what happened? Their crime went way down.³⁷Through false proof, Trump convinced himself that all of the criminals of other countries ended up in the United States. Because, as he believes, they are all in the United States, these countries now have lower crimes rates. It is very possible that this means that Trump believes sending American prisoners to other countries will lower the crime rate in the United States. He previously spoke about repeat offenders going in and out of prison. Perhaps he believes that the removal of the American prison population to other countries will decrease the rate of crime in the US. But now Venezuela has other countr– problems. You know what the problem is? They have no money. Because I shut off their oil and we put secondary tariffs because they’re not uh they’re not doing what’s right over there. They know what to do. We spoke to them. I spoke to them. They know what to do. But they have no money. Venezuela has no money. But Iran had no money, and Iran behaved so beautifully. And then Biden took all those secondary tariffs on tariffs on. I told China you can’t buy oil. If you buy oil from Iran. China. I told it to President Xi. Then we no longer want you to do business with the United States of America. And those ships disappear from that harbor so quickly. China. Get along great with China.

(video)

Notes

• 1
  Trump also mentioned other countries on April 14: “We have others that we’re negotiating with too.”
• 2
  “A step further” is the phrase Trump also used to preclude his mention of sending American citizens to foreign prisons on
  April 14.
• 3
  Trump juxtaposes deporting migrants with deporting Americans who are “just as bad.”
• 4
  This is the first time Trump mentions legality.
• 5
  Trump again on April 6, Leavitt on April 8, and Trump on April 14 all mentioned that the legality of this matter was being looked into. On April 14, he named Pam Pondi and Stephen Miller as being involved in discussions about legality.
• 6
  Trump has a particular interest in mentioning old women getting hit in the head. He mentioned it on Feb 4 (“the people that hit old ladies in the back of the head with a baseball bat when they’re not looking.”), Apr 6 (“if we have somebody that bops an old woman over the head”), and Apr 14 (“if they hit people with baseball bats over their head that happen to be 90 years old”).
• 7
  This is not a temporary prison sentence with a return to the United States. This is a banishment of a citizen from the United States into the property of a foreign government.
• 8
  While discussing potentially the most offensive violation of a citizen’s rights, Trump can’t help but make himself the victim of the criminal legal system.
• 9
  Trump again mentions that there are multiple countries interested in taking prisoners of the US
• 10
  In case you thought Trump wasn’t talking about citizens, he let you know otherwise here.
• 11
  Another mention of the group effort to determine legality.
• 12
  Marco Rubio
• 13
  Trump has reiterated more than once in this Oval Office meeting that he believes that this class of citizens is irredeemable. It appears that their irredeemably make it so that Trump believes he should be able to exile them from the US.
• 14
  “Truth Social,” Truth Social, accessed April 14, 2025, https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/114200244380161257.
• 15
  In response to Pam Bondi announcing charges carrying potential 20 year imprisonment penalties for alleged vandals of Tesla related property
• 16
  Trump suggests the possibility that people, who are citizens, charged with crimes concerning property related to Musk’s company could be sent to a foreign prison.
• 17
  “I Love That”: Trump Endorses Sending American Citizen Prisoners To El Salvador Prison, 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7CpBnVM1GQ.
• 18
  A President of the United States honored to give citizens to a foreign power.
• 19
  Trump is less deferential to the unknown legalities of law here. He admits his ignorance of the law. However, he proclaims his belief that the law can’t possibly oppose what he desires in this instance.
• 20
  Trump explicitly notes that the people whom he wants to hand over to other governments are American citizens.
• 21
  “WATCH: Trump ‘simply Floated’ Idea of Deporting U.S. Citizens, White House’s Leavitt Says,” PBS News, April 8, 2025, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-trump-simply-floated-idea-of-deporting-u-s-citizens-white-houses-leavitt-says.
• 22
  If Trump has been discussing the removal of citizens from the United States in private, the matter is more serious than Trump “floating” the idea. How involved are Bondi, Rubio, Miller, etc.?
• 23
  Speaking in the present and plural gives further credence to the notion that the administration is actively discussing the possibility of removing citizens.
• 24
  This is a conversation that Trump likely did not know was being streamed. Video available Marisa Kabas, “Holy Shit. Video Posted by President Bukele’s Team on X Shows the Moments before His Press Conference with Trump in Which Trump Tells Him…,” Post, Bluesky, April 14, 2025, https://bsky.app/profile/marisakabas.bsky.social/post/3lmrzhj4nzk2x. ABC News article: A. B. C. News, “‘Homegrowns Are next’: Trump Doubles down on Sending American ‘criminals’ to Foreign Prisons,” ABC News, accessed April 14, 2025, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/homegrowns-trump-doubles-sending-convicted-us-citizens-foreign/story?id=120802863.
• 25
  “I’m going to do.” Trump was not as declarative in previous public remarks. In public remarks, he speaks about his desire to do such, but defers to undetermined legality.
• 26
  Trump on April 6 used the phrase “American grown and born” when discussing the matter publicly: “we have some horrible criminals, American grown and born.” So it is clear that he is referring to citizens when saying “homegrown criminals.”
• 27
  At this point in the video and audio, Trump appears to be speaking to other people out of view in the Oval Office. Are these members of the cabinet who were at today’s public meeting? Trump’s nonchalant descriptor of “homegrowns” makes it appear as though the other people in the room are familiar with the term, its usage, and Trump’s context.
• 28
  Trump is hinting that the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) (Terrorism Confinement Center) is not large enough for Trump’s operation of removing citizens from the U.S. to El Salvador.
• 29
  President Trump and El Salvador President Nayib Bukele Speak from the Oval Office — 4/14/2025, 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogLw7I2BWO0.
• 30
  The approximate timestamp in the video above
• 31
  Pam Bondi
• 32
  Trump instructing Stephen Miller to determine legality.
• 33
  The approximate timestamp in the video above
• 34
  Actually, citizens are a category of person who possess legal rights. These rights absolutely include the right not to be transferred from the possession of the United States to imprisonment in a foreign country
• 35
  Trump previously described other countries being interested on February 4.
• 36
  Trump says that Pam Bondi, the Attorney General, is currently investigating a way to remove citizens.
• 37
  Through false proof, Trump convinced himself that all of the criminals of other countries ended up in the United States. Because, as he believes, they are all in the United States, these countries now have lower crimes rates. It is very possible that this means that Trump believes sending American prisoners to other countries will lower the crime rate in the United States. He previously spoke about repeat offenders going in and out of prison. Perhaps he believes that the removal of the American prison population to other countries will decrease the rate of crime in the US.