Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised El Salvador for having an “excellent” prison system while defending the Trump administration’s deportation actions, which have sent migrants to those facilities. But El Salvador’s prisons have been criticized for poor conditions and human rights abuses, even by the State Department that Rubio now heads.
Rubio’s comments occurred during an interview with pro-Trump radio host Hugh Hewitt on Wednesday.
“I have confidence that El Salvador runs an excellent prison system, that’s why we engaged them on this process,” Rubio said.
But a 2023 report from the State Department on El Salvador’s human rights described prison conditions as “harsh and life threatening,” and noted that they suffer from overcrowding, inadequate sanitation, and shortages of food and water.
Nayib Bukele is the current president of El Salvador and has fashioned himself as a strongman attacking crime in that nation, which echoes Donald Trump’s approach to the issue. Bukele has received criticism for abusing human rights after declaring a state of emergency, granting his government the power to detain people based on purported gang affiliations.
Human rights groups have estimated that hundreds have died as a result of torture in Salvadoran prisons.
Rubio’s promotion of these facilities comes in the context of the Trump administration defending their decision to deport migrants to El Salvador, based on the claim that those individuals were associated with criminal gangs. The administration is being sued by groups like the ACLU and Democracy Forward, who argue that people unaffiliated with gang activity were swept up by the administration.
Lawyers for the detainees have said that the administration’s criteria for labeling migrants as gang members is extremely questionable. In one instance, a detainee was reportedly red flagged due to a tattoo of a soccer ball.
Trump has argued that he is tough on criminal issues and has used crime as a crutch to excuse his bigoted anti-immigration policies for years. Praising a prison system with a track record of abuses falls in line with his past actions and rhetoric.
Rubio was touted at the time of his nomination as a possible moderating influence on Trump and received support in the Senate from every member of the Democratic caucus. But since being sworn in, the man Trump once derided as “Little Marco” has fallen in line with the administration and some Democrats have expressed regret for their vote.
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