Those words — “home-growns are next’ — should send a chill down the spine of every person in the country.
Criminal Justice Research Library for April 17, 2025 Bringing you the latest in empirical research about mass incarceration
President Trump said, “home-growns are next.” Here’s our response. [[link removed]] President Trump’s recent comments about sending Americans to a Salvadoran prison mark a new, dark turn in the fight to end mass incarceration. [[link removed]]
Standing in the Oval Office on Monday, just before members of the media were ushered into the room, President Trump said to President Bukele of El Salvador [[link removed]], “Home-growns are next. The home-growns. You gotta build about five more places. It’s not big enough.”
Those “home-growns” he’s talking about, they’re United States citizens. They’re you and me.Those “home-growns” he’s talking about, they’re United States citizens. They’re you and me.
Those “five more places” he asked the Salvadoran dictator to build, they’re “prisons” like the one where the Trump Administration has already sent hundreds of immigrants, many of whom were snatched off the streets and shipped off without due process. (We use the term “prison” in this newsletter for simplicity, but it is not an exact fit for these facilities.) This includes Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia [[link removed]], whom the Trump administration has refused to bring back to the United States, defying a unanimous order from the Supreme Court [[link removed]].
The actions of the Trump administration against immigrants in this country, many of whom were here legally, are an unconstitutional human rights violation. At Prison Policy Initiative, we know that we are not experts in the immigration system in the United States, and as such, have so far deferred to the amazing organizations, experts, and advocates leading the fight against these policies. Trump’s words make clear that a different approach is needed from us.
Our mission at Prison Policy Initiative is to provide facts, research, and data about the ways mass incarceration harms residents of the U.S. — and not just those behind bars.
After these comments, we’ve been asked by countless people to weigh in on the steadily increasing signs that Trump is working to deport and incarcerate U.S. citizens to El Salvador. However, the truth is that there are no facts or data to provide context for this situation.
American presidents have done some really [[link removed]] heinous [[link removed]] things [[link removed]], and while these injustices provide clues about what we can expect next, they are not exact parallels to the threat that every resident of the U.S. currently faces.
American and Salvadoran prisons have more in common than you think. They’re large [[link removed]], brutal [[link removed]], costly [[link removed]], and don’t [[link removed]] make communities safer [[link removed]]. They destroy the lives of the people ensnared in them and the lives of their families. Both countries incarcerate similar numbers of people per-capita [[link removed]] and both of their prisons serve as a death sentence [[link removed]] for many inside. It is important to note, though, that the American system has at least the guise of due process and legal standards for facilities — such as prison conditions, oversight, and transparency — while this Salvadoran facility does not. Sending U.S. residents to far-flung prisons without due process would be a dramatic escalation of our country’s already misguided policies.
Those three words — “home-growns are next’ — should send a chill down the spine of every person in the country.
We don’t know exactly what Trump and his subordinates are planning. He’s made clear that Attorney General Pam Bondi is exploring the legality of incarcerating American citizens in another country. All credible legal experts agree that doing so would be unconstitutional [[link removed]].
But as we’ve already seen, the Trump administration doesn’t see the Constitution as an impediment to its actions [[link removed]]. So there is little doubt that once the administration recognizes it can’t find a legal rationale for deporting U.S. citizens, it will surely make one up out of thin air.
In his remarks, he indicated that he was talking about deporting “violent people.” Perhaps this is an attempt to assure people that his unconstitutional plan to deport American citizens won’t go too far. But the truth is, many so-called “violent” crimes don’t actually involve physical harm [[link removed]]. In some states, even drug offenses are deemed a violent c [[link removed]] rime [[link removed]].
The simple fact is that law enforcement can spin nearly any criminal accusation to be a “violent” offense in the U.S. criminal legal system. There is little doubt that if given the chance, the administration would warp the definition of “violent crime” beyond its already sagging bounds.
Of course, some apologists will attempt to assure the American people that as long as they don’t commit a crime, they have nothing to be afraid of. But does anyone really doubt that Trump is planning to use the full force of law enforcement to go after those who displease or oppose him? For months, he has said he wants do just that [[link removed]]. This would make it so any act he doesn’t like would put you at risk of deportation to a Salvadoran prison, without due process and the opportunity to defend yourself in a court of law.
You would think that a president convicted of multiple felony offenses [[link removed]], which he insists are politically motivated, would be more attuned to the risks of such political prosecutions. But you’d be wrong.
We don't know what comes next, but we're in this fight with you.Those three chilling words — “home-growns are next” — signal a dark pivot for our country and a dramatic expansion of the already devastating criminal legal system.
For an organization that prides itself on its ability to use visualizations and clear language to make sense of the goings-on in the criminal legal system, we are, for perhaps the first time ever, left at a loss for what to say.
But just because we’re at a loss today, doesn’t mean we’re sitting on the sidelines. Over the coming weeks, months, and maybe even years, as this crisis unfolds, we’ll be here:
When we can provide data and analysis, we’ll share them with you. When we can elevate the voices and actions of experts and organizations in areas that are outside of our expertise, we’ll point you to them. And when there are opportunities to take action, we’ll tell you about them and be by your side.
We don’t know what comes next, but we’re in this fight with you.
Please support our work [[link removed]]
Our work is made possible by private donations. Can you help us keep going? We can accept tax-deductible gifts online [[link removed]] or via paper checks sent to PO Box 127 Northampton MA 01061. Thank you!
Other news: New national data help fill 20-year data gap: Offense data for people in local jails [[link removed]]
Most people who are in jails are there for non-violent and minor offenses.
That's one of the key findings from this brand new briefing [[link removed]], where we look at new data from the Jail Data initiative. It shows, for the first time in over 20 years, why people are sitting in jail on any given day./p>
Rolling back solitary confinement reforms won’t make prisons safer [[link removed]]
Thousands of New York prison guards went on strike to demand changes to the HALT Solitary Confinement Act. They claim limitations on solitary confinement have worsened working conditions.
But in in this new briefing [[link removed]], we explain why the decision to return long-term isolation to New York’s prisons won’t fix things.
Please support our work [[link removed]]
Our work is made possible by private donations. Can you help us keep going? We can accept tax-deductible gifts online [[link removed]] or via paper checks sent to PO Box 127 Northampton MA 01061. Thank you!
Our other newsletters General Prison Policy Initiative newsletter ( archives [[link removed]]) Ending prison gerrymandering ( archives [[link removed]])
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