Trump: Let's Put Repeat Offenders in Jails Abroad

It's an idea that harkens back to the days of Australian penal colonies: President Trump on Monday floated the idea of sending repeat criminal offenders abroad to serve their time. When speaking at a conference for House Republicans in Miami, Trump put it like so:

• "If they've been arrested many, many times, they're repeat offenders by many numbers, I want them out of our country. We're going to get approval, hopefully, to get them the hell out of our country, along with others—let them be brought to a foreign land and maintained by others for a very small fee."

NBC News reports Trump said some violent offenders end up free to re-offend after having "been arrested 30 times, 35 times, 41, 42 times" and cited "heinous charges" like pushing people into oncoming subway trains and "punching old ladies in the face, knocking them unconscious and stealing their purse." Sending these offenders abroad would amount to big savings for the US, Trump predicted, considering the federal government's current options: use US jails "for massive amounts of money" or rely on private prisons, which Trump said "charge us a fortune." He didn't specify any potential foreign lands that might be willing to receive US prisoners.