No surprises at Trump-Bukele meetingpublished at 17:43 British Summer Time
Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House
I’ve just listened to Trump and Bukele’s Oval Office meeting from my post in the White House basement – and not much of what I heard jumped out at me as particularly new as someone who covers both immigration and the White House.
It is clear, however, that both Trump and Bukele are digging into their positions with regards to how deportation flows between the two countries will continue, which Trump said is “really helping” the US.
It was eye-opening, I thought, to hear Trump say that he hoped to deport “as many as possible” to El Salvador.
This includes, potentially, US citizens, an option fraught with legal challenges and which the administration has, repeatedly, acknowledged a lack of clarity on how it would work.
Overall, there appeared to be few, if any, points of disagreement between the two, at least not publicly.
Trump’s lack of commitment when asked about temporary protected status (TPS) was the only potential source of friction.
Of course, we don’t know what the discussion will be away from the world’s cameras during their closed-door lunch.
