Current laws “would categorically preclude most U.S. citizens and residents from serving their sentence in El Salvador,” a former U.S. attorney said.

After meeting Secretary of State Marco Rubio, El Salvador's president has offered to house U.S. deportees and even American inmates in his country's "mega-prison."

President Bukele, who labels himself as the "coolest dictator" and a "philosopher king," has built election success and immense popularity on an extreme security policy to combat gang violence in El Salvador, incarcerating large quantities of alleged gang members and securing a massive drop in homicides.