Trump praised El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele in the White House

On April 14, 2025, President Donald J. Trump praised El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele during a White House meeting, stating, “I love the people of El Salvador and they have one hell of a President.”

The remark highlighted Trump’s admiration for Bukele’s aggressive anti-crime policies, which reduced El Salvador’s homicide rate significantly, and their shared focus on immigration enforcement, including cooperation on deportations and combating gangs like MS-13.

Discussions centered on a controversial deportation case involving Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran mistakenly deported from the U.S., and Trump’s unconstitutional proposal to deport U.S. citizen criminals to El Salvador’s high-security prisons.

While their strong rapport strengthens U.S.-El Salvador ties, Bukele’s authoritarian methods and human rights criticisms raise concerns about aligning with such governance, complicating the balance between bilateral cooperation and democratic principles.