WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he is open to the idea of sending violent American criminals to other countries for imprisonment.

"These are sick people. If we could get them out of our country, we have other countries that would take them. They could. It's no different than a prison system, except it would be a lot less expensive and it would be a great deterrent to send them to other countries," said Trump in the Oval Office.

Asked about the legality of such a move, he responded: "If we had the legal right to do it, I would do it in a heartbeat. I don't know if we do or not. We're looking at that right now, but we could make deals where we'd get these animals out of our country."

His remarks came in response to a question about a proposal by El Salvador to house “dangerous” American criminals in its jails.

It was raised by El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele during his meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the capital San Salvador to discuss bilateral relations and pressing issues, including illegal migration.

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement that Bukele "agreed to take back all Salvadoran MS-13 gang members who are in the United States unlawfully.”

He 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," she added.