Reform UK in talks to deport foreign prisoners to El Salvador

Reform UK is in discussions with El Salvador about a plan to deport thousands of foreign nationals from British prisons to serve their sentences in the Central American country's maximum-security facilities. The proposal, announced as part of the party's prisons policy, aims to address severe overcrowding in the UK's jail system, which has been operating at near-full capacity.

Reform UK's Home Affairs spokesperson, Zia Yusuf, stated that the party would seek to deport all foreign nationals from UK prisons. "If their home countries won't take them back, we will send them to serve their sentences in countries like El Salvador and Kosovo," Yusuf said. The party estimates there are over 10,000 foreign nationals currently in British jails. A delegation from Reform UK, led by party chairman Lee Anderson, is scheduled to visit El Salvador within the coming months to discuss the feasibility of renting prison space. Initial conversations have reportedly already taken place.

The primary facility under consideration is El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT. Opened in 2023, the mega-prison in Tecoluca has a capacity of 40,000 inmates and is the largest in Latin America....