CECOT is no longer just a brutal prison in El Salvador. As of 2025, it is officially the site of Donald Trump’s first functioning concentration camp. Not only has Trump deported hundreds of individuals there – including U.S. legal residents and asylum seekers – he has now openly declared plans to expand the model. In a direct conversation with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, Trump stated, “The homegrowns are next… You’ve got to build about five more places.”

This is not theoretical. There are already people imprisoned at CECOT today at Trump’s direction. Some are migrants. At least one is a U.S. resident wrongfully deported. Trump has defied a U.S. Supreme Court order demanding his return. This is happening now. CECOT is a modern-day concentration camp, and the President of the United States is actively using it as one.

What Is a Concentration Camp?

Historically, a concentration camp is defined as a place where groups of people are detained without trial, often based on political affiliation, ethnicity, or social class, and held under brutal conditions. Unlike prisons, these camps do not require legal justification for detention. They are instruments of control, intimidation, and mass repression.

CECOT meets every requirement of this definition. It wasn’t built to rehabilitate or to house those convicted in fair trials. It exists to warehouse thousands of people based on suspicion, appearance, geography, or political expedience – and now, it’s being used by the U.S. government under Donald Trump.

There’s also a psychological element to consider. These camps instill fear not only in the detained, but in the larger public watching it unfold. CECOT serves as a message: obedience or disappearance.

Inside CECOT

CECOT (Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo), opened in 2023 by Bukele, holds up to 40,000 prisoners in a sprawling, heavily surveilled compound. Reports from inside describe horrific conditions: no sunlight, no legal access, no medical care, little food, and constant abuse. Detainees are stripped of identity, herded into giant warehouse-style dormitories, and routinely subjected to beatings.

The Salvadoran government admits that thousands of prisoners were arrested arbitrarily. Many were rounded up en masse during gang crackdowns and held without charge under a permanent state of exception. Detainees include minors, disabled people, and those with no criminal history.

Those inside are often unrecognizable after months of incarceration. Emaciated, isolated, and silenced, their only role is to serve the optics of control. International watchdogs have described the scenes as dystopian.

Trump Is Already Sending People There

In a story that shocked legal experts, Trump deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia – a Maryland resident with protected status – to El Salvador, where he was immediately imprisoned in CECOT. When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled his deportation illegal and ordered his return, Trump refused. The DOJ has defied the court’s order, and Bukele has refused to release him.

There are more. At least 238 individuals have been deported under Trump’s revived mass deportation agenda. Many of them are asylum seekers or migrants accused of gang affiliation without evidence. Several were reportedly transferred directly to CECOT. These individuals were not given hearings, trials, or any access to legal defense.

This is not about crime. It is about demonstration. CECOT is being used to showcase a vision of order through terror. The imagery of kneeling, half-naked prisoners packed into concrete cells is no accident. It is political theatre – and Trump is now directing it.

And the longer it continues, the more normalized it becomes. News cycles move on. Institutions fold. But the camp remains full.

Trump Wants Five More

In early 2025, during a call with Bukele, Trump said it plainly: “The homegrowns are next.” He was referring to American citizens. The plan? Deport violent offenders, or those accused of being gang-affiliated, directly to El Salvador. He told Bukele he would need five more CECOTs to make it happen.

This is unprecedented. No American president has ever proposed deporting U.S. citizens to a foreign prison – let alone one condemned by human rights organizations across the globe. Legal experts argue that it would be unconstitutional, a violation of both the Eighth Amendment and international law. But Trump doesn’t care. He’s already doing it.

There is no plan for appeals. No indication of judicial oversight. Just a blank check to disappear people.

Legal Cover, Authoritarian Intent

Trump’s Department of Justice has floated legal interpretations that frame these deportations as national security measures. They claim CECOT is a sovereign facility, and cooperation with El Salvador is legal under bilateral agreements. These justifications are paper shields for raw authoritarianism.

More dangerously, Trump’s allies in Congress are drafting legislation to expand deportation authority, sidestep asylum protections, and increase funding for international detention partnerships. The fascist logic is clear: criminalize the poor, dehumanize the foreign, and export the undesirable.

Already, some right-wing think tanks have begun advocating for similar partnerships with Honduras, Guatemala, and even private facilities in the Caribbean. The blueprint is spreading.

The Concentration Camp Model Comes Home

CECOT is not just a foreign policy tool. It is a blueprint for what Trump wants in the U.S. If allowed, he will import the model: massive, extrajudicial camps to detain citizens, immigrants, and dissidents.

Right-wing media in the U.S. are celebrating Bukele. CECOT is praised as a “solution” to crime, gangs, and political unrest. Republican governors are watching closely. Sheriff departments are asking for federal funding to build similar facilities. This is the normalization of mass incarceration as a form of political control.

We are watching the test run of American fascism – and it’s being applauded by the very people planning to replicate it at home.

CECOT is not a warning. It is the opening act. Trump is already using it to imprison people under U.S. jurisdiction. He has already defied the Supreme Court. He has already declared plans to expand.

This is not the beginning of fascism. It is fascism in motion. CECOT is Trump’s first concentration camp. He wants five more. And unless we stop pretending this is normal, he’ll get them.

Each new camp will be easier. Each new prisoner more forgotten. We either call it what it is now – or we watch it become permanent.