PRESIDENT Donald Trump is to send American criminals to El Salvador's notorious mega-prisons in a breakthrough migrant deal. In the "extraordinary" offer from President Nayib Bukele, some of the most dangerous thugs residing comfortably in US jail's will be flown over to El Salvador to serve their time. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that Bukele agreed to the migratory agreement that will see US deportees of any nationality locked up.

Rubio gloated that Bukele agreed to the most "unprecedented, extraordinary, extraordinary migratory agreement anywhere in the world" following tense talks at his lakeside country house just outside of San Salvador. He added that the Salvadoran president even "offered to do the same" for some of America's most dangerous criminals currently locked up in the US - despite being US citizens or legal residents.

Rubio was visiting El Salvador on Monday to turn screws on the country to meet Trump's demands for a major crackdown on immigration. Bukele agreed to take back blood-thirsty Salvadoran MS-13 gang members residing in the US unlawfully, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce explained in a statement. She added that the Salvadoran president also "promised to accept and incarcerate violent illegal immigrants, including members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, but also criminal illegal migrants from any country".

In regards to the country also accepting to lock up dangerous American criminals, Bruce dubbed it as an "extraordinary gesture never before extended by any country". El Salvador is renowned for its brutal jails, especially the Counter-Terrorism Confinement Centre mega-prison which houses some of the country's most violent gangsters. Incredible images show thousands of violent skinhead gangsters from the country's main gangs, MS-13 and Barrio 18, crammed into an inescapable mega-prison.

Pictures show rows and rows of prisoners sitting with their hands behind their shaved heads at the high-tech prison. Other images reveal gang members stripped down to only white shorts running through the facility. Meanwhile, prison officers armed with assault rifles are guarding the inmates. Secretary of State Rubio spoke in San Salvador shortly after Trump shelved his punishing tariff plans for 30 days for Canada and Mexico in a last-gasp deal.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he would go forward with a massive round of border security measures after desperate crisis talks with Trump on Monday. Similarly after conversing with the US president, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum agreed to reinforce the northern border with 10,000 members of the country's National Guard. Rubio arrived in San Salvador shortly after witnessing a US-funded deportation flight with 43 migrants onboard leave Panama for Colombia.

It came a day after Rubio delivered a stern warning to Panama that unless the government moved immediately to rid China's chilling presence at the Panama Canal, the US would retake control. The notion of El Salvador accepting foreign nationals arrested in the US for violating immigration laws is dubbed a "safe third country agreement". Officials have hinted that this could be an option for brutal Venezuelan gang members convicted of crimes in the US if Venezuela were to refuse to accept them.

Meanwhile human rights activists have warned that El Salvador lacks a consistent policy for the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees - arguing that the agreement might not be limited to violent criminals. Manuel Flores, the secretary general of the leftist opposition party Farabundo Mart National Liberation Front, slammed the safe third country plan and said it would signal that the region is Washington's "backyard to dump the garbage".

Following the meeting with Bukele, Rubio signed a memorandum of understanding, or a non-binding agreement that outlines their intentions to work together, with his Salvadoran counterpart. This is to advance US and El Salvador civil nuclear cooperation, which could lead eventually to a more formal deal involving medicine too. The deportation flight Rubio witnessed being loaded in Panama City contained migrants detained by Panamanian authorities after illegally crossing the Darien Gap from Colombia.

The State Department claimed such deportations gave a message of deterrence. The US has thrown financial assistance at Panama to the tune of nearly an eye-watering $2.7 million in flights and tickets since an agreement was signed to fund them. Rubio stood on the tarmac and personally watched the flight taking 32 men and 11 women back to Colombia go into the sky. Witnessing a law enforcement operation of this kind is known to be very unusual for a secretary of state to do - especially in front of cameras.