Trump Shares El Salvador Prison Video, Links Deportations to Falling US Crime

US President Donald Trump has shared a video of El Salvador’s maximum-security CECOT prison, defending his administration’s deportation policy and claiming that sending people accused of serious crimes there has contributed to record-low crime rates in the United States.

Daniel Momodu · October 14, 2026 · 8

United States President Donald Trump has shared a video of El Salvador’s maximum-security Terrorism Confinement Centre (CECOT), using the footage to defend his administration’s deportation policy and link it to declining crime rates across the country.

Trump posted the video on X on Wednesday, describing the facility as the destination for people his administration considers dangerous criminals.

In the post, he wrote: “THIS IS WHERE WE SEND OUR KILLERS, DRUG DEALERS & THUGS. THIS IS WHY MURDER AND OTHER CRIMES IN AMERICA ARE AT RECORD LOWS.”

CECOT is located in Tecoluca, El Salvador, and was designed to accommodate up to 40,000 inmates. The prison has attracted international attention over its restrictive conditions, with reports indicating that individual cells hold between 65 and 70 prisoners.

Trump’s post comes amid his administration’s efforts to deport migrants it identifies as criminal threats, including transferring some deportees to El Salvador under an arrangement with the government of President Nayib Bukele.

The arrangement has formed part of Trump’s broader immigration enforcement strategy, which has included the use of military resources and cooperation with foreign governments to remove people considered security risks by US authorities.

The President has repeatedly presented deportations and tougher immigration enforcement as central to his efforts to improve public safety.

However, his assertion that the transfers have caused crime rates to fall is a claim made in his social media post; the video itself does not establish a direct causal link between deportations and nationwide crime trends.

The use of CECOT to hold deportees has also drawn scrutiny over detention conditions and the treatment of people transferred from the United States.

Trump’s latest post reinforces his administration’s position that removing people it identifies as dangerous criminals is an important part of its approach to tackling crime and enforcing immigration laws.