The Trump administration and the president of El Salvador said Monday that they'd struck a deal allowing the U.S. to ship both detained migrants and imprisoned citizens to the tiny Central American nation,

President Bukele, who labels himself as the "coolest dictator" and a "philosopher king," has built election success and immense popularity on an extreme security policy to combat gang violence in El Salvador, incarcerating large quantities of alleged gang members and securing a massive drop in homicides.

The Trump administration is assessing whether it could take up El Salvador's offer to house U.S. citizens convicted of crimes in its jails, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday, despite the apparent illegality of such a move.