The Trump administration has no cap on how many illegal immigrants it may deport to a mega-prison in El Salvador in the coming months, according to a senior White House official.
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said outside the White House on Monday morning that President Donald Trump envisioned deporting more than the hundreds of illegal immigrants the U.S. government sent to El Salvador last month.
Those immigrants are suspected members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and MS-13. However, the El Salvador prison gained broader attention after the Trump administration mistakenly deported a Maryland man to the facility.
“There’s no upper limit to the agreement. We’re going to continue to send foreign terrorist aliens to El Salvador, as well as to many other countries,” Miller said.
On Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the United States deported another 10 alleged gang members to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center. The facility was established under Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele and can house up to 40,000 inmates.
More than 200 illegal immigrants allegedly affiliated with Tren de Aragua were flown to CECOT last month following Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, which allows the U.S. government to remove people from the U.S. without normal deportation proceedings.
Bukele offered the Trump administration use of the prison because Venezuela refused earlier this year to accept its deported citizens back from the U.S.
Rubio labeled Tren de Aragua a foreign terrorist organization in late February.
Miller said there are still “thousands” of Tren de Aragua members, affiliates, and associates present in the U.S. as Immigration and Customs Enforcement seeks to carry out the Trump administration’s “largest-ever” deportation operation.
“Obviously, some portion of those will be going to El Salvador as part of our effort to eradicate this foreign terrorist organization from the United States,” Miller said.
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Bukele visited Washington, D.C., on Monday to meet with Trump in the Oval Office.
Last week, the U.S. State Department lowered the travel advisory for visiting El Salvador to the lowest level.
