President Trump said, “home-growns are next.” Here’s our response.

President Trump’s recent comments about sending Americans to a Salvadoran prison mark a new, dark turn in the fight to end mass incarceration.

by Prison Policy Initiative, April 17, 2025

Standing in the Oval Office on Monday, just before members of the media were ushered into the room, President Trump said to President Bukele of El Salvador, “Home-growns are next. The home-growns. You gotta build about five more places. It’s not big enough.”

Those “home-growns” he’s talking about, they’re United States citizens. They’re you and me.

Those “five more places” he asked the Salvadoran dictator to build, they’re “prisons”¹ like the one where the Trump Administration has already sent hundreds of immigrants, many of whom were snatched off the streets and shipped off without due process. This includes Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, whom the Trump administration has refused to bring back to the United States, defying a unanimous order from the Supreme Court.

The actions of the Trump administration against immigrants in this country, many of whom were here legally, are an unconstitutional human rights violation. At Prison Policy Initiative, we know that we are not experts in the immigration system in the United States, and as such, have so far deferred to the amazing organizations, experts, and advocates leading the fight against these policies. Trump’s words make clear that a different approach is needed from us.

Our mission at Prison Policy Initiative is to provide facts, research, and data about the ways mass incarceration harms residents of the U.S. — and not just those behind bars.

After these comments, we’ve been asked by countless people to weigh in on the steadily increasing signs that Trump is working to deport and incarcerate U.S. citizens to El Salvador. However, the truth is that there are no facts or data to provide context for this situation.

American presidents have done some really heinous things, and while these injustices provide clues about what we can expect next, they are not exact parallels to the threat that every resident of the U.S. currently faces.

American and Salvadoran prisons have more in common than you think. They’re large, brutal, costly, and don’t make communities safer. They destroy the lives of the people ensnared in them and the lives of their families. Both countries incarcerate similar numbers of people per-capita and both of their prisons serve as a death sentence for many inside. It is important to note, though, that the American system has at least the guise of due process and legal standards for facilities — such as prison conditions, oversight, and transparency — while this Salvadoran facility does not. Sending U.S. residents to far-flung prisons without due process would be a dramatic escalation of our country’s already misguided policies.

Those three words — “home-growns are next’ — should send a chill down the spine of every person in the country.

We don’t know exactly what Trump and his subordinates are planning. He’s made clear that Attorney General Pam Bondi is exploring the legality of incarcerating American citizens in another country. All credible legal experts agree that doing so would be unconstitutional.

But as we’ve already seen, the Trump administration doesn’t see the Constitution as an impediment to its actions. So there is little doubt that once the administration recognizes it can’t find a legal rationale for deporting U.S. citizens, it will surely make one up out of thin air.

In his remarks, he indicated that he was talking about deporting “violent people.” Perhaps this is an attempt to assure people that his unconstitutional plan to deport American citizens won’t go too far. But the truth is, many so-called “violent” crimes don’t actually involve physical harm. In some states, even drug offenses are deemed a violent crime.

The simple fact is that law enforcement can spin nearly any criminal accusation to be a “violent” offense in the U.S. criminal legal system. There is little doubt that if given the chance, the administration would warp the definition of “violent crime” beyond its already sagging bounds.

Of course, some apologists will attempt to assure the American people that as long as they don’t commit a crime, they have nothing to be afraid of. But does anyone really doubt that Trump is planning to use the full force of law enforcement to go after those who displease or oppose him? For months, he has said he wants do just that. This would make it so any act he doesn’t like would put you at risk of deportation to a Salvadoran prison, without due process and the opportunity to defend yourself in a court of law.

You would think that a president convicted of multiple felony offenses, which he insists are politically motivated, would be more attuned to the risks of such political prosecutions. But you’d be wrong.

Those three chilling words — “home-growns are next” — signal a dark pivot for our country and a dramatic expansion of the already devastating criminal legal system.

For an organization that prides itself on its ability to use visualizations and clear language to make sense of the goings-on in the criminal legal system, we are, for perhaps the first time ever, left at a loss for what to say.

But just because we’re at a loss today, doesn’t mean we’re sitting on the sidelines. Over the coming weeks, months, and maybe even years, as this crisis unfolds, we’ll be here:

• When we can provide data and analysis, we’ll share them with you.
• When we can elevate the voices and actions of experts and organizations in areas that are outside of our expertise, we’ll point you to them.
• And when there are opportunities to take action, we’ll tell you about them and be by your side.

We don’t know what comes next, but we’re in this fight with you.