Wednesday, February 5

President Donald Trump has agreed to strike a deal with El Salvador that would see millions of undocumented immigrants and American convicts sent to the Central American country's new mega-prison for a relatively small fee for the United States.

Trump is continuing his implementation of drastic changes throughout the United States with another major development involving illegal immigrants after he struck up a deal with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was the one to announce the deal to the public, describing it as "unprecedented" and "extraordinary." The new plan sees El Salvador accept any deported immigrant from any nationality, including Salvadorans, who have committed crimes or taken part in major gangs. The deported criminals will be sent to El Salvador's recently built mega-prison, known as the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT). In return, the United States will pay El Salvador a fee, which Bukele labeled as low for the US but significant for their country.

Bukele has been praised by many Salvadorans for dramatically reducing gang violence across the country since he came to power in 2022, and his recently-built mega-prison works to achieve that job. CECOT, a maximum security prison, opened in 2023 and can hold over 40,000 criminals, making it the largest prison in the world. However, the jail has been called out by human rights groups for failing to provide adequate supplies to incarcerated prisoners. Also, prisoners have no access to the legal system or due process, and they not allowed any visits from family and friends.

Bukele also proposed the idea that the United States could send criminals of their own to El Salvador for another fee, but that has faced major backlash. The US is not allowed -- by law -- to deport criminals who are legal citizens of the country, but the Trump administration could take up efforts to execute such a plan if a loophole is found.

Now, the US will begin deporting illegal immigrants who have committed crimes to a different country than they came from, which was previously unheard of. However, this attempt may face legal challenges in the future, as many human rights groups and other organizations are extremely frustrated with the new deal.

Fact of the Day (Reader's Digest): Barns are red because of dying stars. That’s because red paint is cheap, but there’s a reason for that. Red paint is actually so inexpensive because the color used to make it is red ochre (also known as iron oxide or by its chemical formula, Fe2O3), which is a byproduct of nuclear fusion in dying stars, making it extremely abundant on Earth.

Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): To punish failure is yet another way to encourage mediocrity. (Michael Eisner)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Zaftig (adj, ZAHF-tig) - Someone described as zaftig has a full, rounded figure, or in other words is pleasingly plump.

In a Sentence: Portraits of zaftig models are exhibited in the artist's collection.