WATCH: Trump ‘simply floated’ idea of deporting U.S. citizens, White House’s Leavitt says

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that the Trump administration is not sure it is legal to deport U.S. citizens to El Salvador, but that President Donald Trump has “simply floated” the idea for the sake of transparency.

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Trump said Sunday that he loves the idea of deporting incarcerated Americans to El Salvador, but that he doesn’t “know what the law says on that.” A reporter had asked Trump about El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s offer to house American prisoners.

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Leavitt said the president had discussed the idea both privately and publicly for “heinous, violent criminals who have broken our nation’s laws repeatedly.”

“The president has said if it’s legal, right, if there is a legal pathway to do that, he’s not sure. We are not sure if there is, it’s an idea that he has simply floated and has discussed very publicly as in the effort of transparency,” she said.