'Drained of hope': How Matt Gaetz gave Trump the idea to deport people to 'tropical gulag'

One of President Donald Trump's most controversial policies is now found to have come from former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who found a sympathetic ear in one of Trump's top advisors

The Independent reported Friday that Gaetz pitched the idea of sending immigrants to El Salvador's infamous CECOT prison to Trump's deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, after a 2024 visit to the mega-prison. The Florida Republican toured CECOT and spoke with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who indicated he would be willing to house immigrants deported from the United States for a price. Miller apparently loved the proposal and brought it to Trump for his approval.

“The conditions had zapped the inhabitants of any will to fight,” Gaetz told TIME magazine in an interview. “It’s tough to see the state of the human condition drained of hope.”

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In February, Trump and the Bukele administration reached an agreement to fund CECOT to the tune of $6 million per year in exchange for sending immigrants to the prison, which one French journalist described as a "tropical gulag" in an interview with the New York Times. Shortly after the plan was negotiated, Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to send Venezuelan immigrants to CECOT, which happened despite an order from a federal judge explicitly ordering the deportation flights to be turned around. Trump fawned over the deal in his recent TIME interview.

"One of the reasons I like it is because it would be much less expensive than our prison system, and I think it would actually be a greater deterrent," Trump said.

During Bukele's visit to the White House earlier this month, Trump was heard telling Bukele that he wanted to send "homegrowns" to CECOT, referring to U.S. citizens who had been found guilty of heinous crimes. Attorney General Pam Bondi did not rule out sending American citizens to El Salvador when asked directly if the Department of Justice was considering Trump's idea.

The New York Times found that, out of the 238 alleged MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gang members Trump sent to El Salvador, almost none of them had any links to the gangs. Among those being held at CECOT include 24 year-old barber Francisco García Casique of Austin Texas, and 27 year-old rideshare driver Gustavo Aguilera Agüero.

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Click here to read the Independent's report in full.