El Salvador’s mega-prison, the centerpiece of its controversial anti-crime strategy, has become the latest holding ground for US deportees.
Hundreds of immigrants, alleged by US authorities to be members of Venezuela’s notorious Tren de Aragua gang, were transferred to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) on Sunday.
This move comes as part of a $6 million agreement between the Trump administration and El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, providing the US with a year’s worth of detention services.
The CECOT, opened in 2023, stands as a stark symbol of Bukele’s iron-fisted approach to crime. Within its walls, inmates are denied access to visitation, recreation, and education.
The transfer of the immigrants to the facility occurred despite a federal judge’s order temporarily halting deportations under an 18th-century wartime declaration targeting Venezuelan gang members.
The agreement and subsequent transfer highlight the Trump administration’s continued hardline stance on immigration, leveraging El Salvador’s penal system as a tool in its deportation efforts.
Here is what to know about the facility and why it is being used for immigrants.
Bukele ordered the mega-prison built as he began his campaign against El Salvador’s gangs in March 2022.
It opened a year later in the town of Tecoluca, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) east of the capital.
The facility has eight sprawling pavilions and can hold up to 40,000 inmates.
Each cell can fit 65 to 70 prisoners.
CECOT prisoners do not receive visits and are never allowed outdoors. The prison does not offer workshops or educational programs to prepare them to return to society after their sentences.
Occasionally, prisoners who have gained a level of trust from prison officials give motivational talks. Prisoners sit in rows in the corridor outside their cells for the talks or are led through exercise regimens under the supervision of guards.
Bukele’s justice minister has said that those held at CECOT would never return to their communities.
