Bukele says Trump has 350 million Americans to 'liberate' by ending crime, terrorism
El Salvador's Nayib Bukele told President Donald Trump that he must "liberate" Americans from crime and that letting men in women's sports is "violence against women."
El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele told President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Monday that he has 350 million Americans to "liberate" by ending crime and terrorism in the United States.
"We know that you have a crime problem and a terrorism problem that you need help with. And we're a small country, but we can help," Bukele said. "We actually turned the murder capital of the world -- that was [what] the journalists called it – the murder capital of the world to the safest country in the Western Hemisphere."
"And I like to say that we actually liberated millions," Bukele said, with the line drawing praise from Trump.
"Mr. President, you have 350 million people to liberate," Bukele told Trump. "You cannot just, you know, free the criminals and think crime is going to go down magically, you have to imprison them so you can liberate 350 million Americans that are asking for the end of crime and the end of terrorism, and it can be done."
The Trump administration has been coordinating with Bukele on deportation flights, sending hundreds, including alleged Tren de Aragua gang members, to El Salvador's notorious Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT.
Trump's 2024 campaign was critical of the Biden administration's catch-and-release border policies, as well as liberal bail reform laws in many Democratic jurisdictions that forced police to release suspects back onto the streets to reoffend.
Trump on Monday derided the "Democratic establishment," championing how the country would now be run by "common sense" after his election.
"Do you allow your men in women's sports? Do you allow men to box women?" Trump asked Bukele, referencing how the left has pushed for biological men to compete in women's sports.
The president of El Salvador remarked, "That's violence."
"That's abuse of a woman," Trump agreed. "But we have people that fight to the death because they think men should be able to play in women's sports."
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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