President Donald Trump plans to host El Salvador President Nayib Bukele in Washington next month, people familiar with the matter said, after the Central American leader agreed to jail hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members deported from the US.
The visit would make Bukele the first leader from the Western Hemisphere to get a formal White House visit, according to the people, who asked not to be identified to discuss plans that haven’t been made public. A date hasn’t been set and the plan could change, they said.
The White House and Bukele’s office didn’t respond to requests for comment. In his first two months in office, Trump has hosted the leaders of countries including France, India, the UK and Israel.
Bukele has actively courted Trump, and first offered in February to accept deportee criminals of any nationality from the US for an undisclosed fee. He made the proposal when Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited him in San Salvador with promises to encourage more investment.
And earlier this month Bukele accepted more than 200 alleged members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang expelled from the US.
That case has sparked a high-profile legal showdown after a federal trial judge ordered a temporary block on the deportations. Trump on Friday asked the US Supreme Court to let his administration resume deporting the alleged Venezuelan gang members without hearings. The episode is testing the ability of federal judges to enforce limits on the president’s power.
Earlier this week, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem filmed a video standing in front of dozens of imprisoned inmates at El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center, which is the biggest jail in the hemisphere.
Bukele was among the invitees to Trump’s inauguration, and Donald Trump Jr. attended Bukele’s inauguration in June. The Salvadoran president spoke at the CPAC gathering outside Washington last February.
With assistance from Stephanie Lai.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Leave a Reply