The lockup currently houses thousands of members of gangs that terrorized the Central American country for decades.

President Bukele, who labels himself as the "coolest dictator" and a "philosopher king," has built election success and immense popularity on an extreme security policy to combat gang violence in El Salvador, incarcerating large quantities of alleged gang members and securing a massive drop in homicides.

He met with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele and senior officials at Bukele's residence on Lake Coatepeque outside the capital for almost three hours, where they agreed to go beyond El Salvador's acceptance of its own deported citizens.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that El Salvador’s offer to accept and jail violent American criminals raises clear legal issues but described it as “very generous” and said that President Donald Trump would make a decision on whether to accept it.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said El Salvador's president will accept deportees of any nationality, including violent American criminals imprisoned in U.S.