(The Hill) — Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) on Wednesday defended President Donald Trump’s suggestion that U.S. citizens convicted of violent crimes be sent to Salvadoran prisons.
“They’re criminals. They broke our laws. They need to suffer our punishment,” Burchett said in a NewsNation interview, when asked about Trump’s suggestion and about concerns that deporting alleged foreign gang members leads to a “slippery slope.”
“Look, I don’t want Donald Trump teaching my daughter’s Sunday school class, but doggone I like him in the White House because he understands the rule of law, I feel like,” he continued.
Trump, in a meeting Monday with El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, indicated he would be open to sending American citizens who are violent criminals to El Salvador to be held in a notorious prison there. He told reporters Attorney General Pam Bondi is looking into the law on the matter.
“If it’s a homegrown criminal, I have no problem,” Trump said. “Now, we’re studying the laws right now. Pam is studying. 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.”
Burchett echoed Trump on Wednesday, celebrating the administration’s effort.
“America is sick of this stuff. We’re sick of picking up the paper and seeing about little girls raped and murdered. I’m a father. It sickens me to my core that people would take the side of these dirtbags. And finally, we got somebody in the White House that stands up for America,” Burchett said.
Experts have said that there is no legal way for the government to deport legal U.S. citizens to another country. Still, Trump and other administration officials have raised the idea multiple times in recent months, raising concern among Democrats and legal experts.
Bukele has worked with the Trump administration to take in hundreds of deportees, including many not from El Salvador, and hold them in a massive prison that has drawn criticism from human rights watchdogs.
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