Martina Navratilova slams Donald Trump's plans to ship 'illegal criminals' to El Salvador mega-prisons

Tennis great Martina Navratilova delivered a scathing critique of President Donald Trump after he suggested sending violent U.S. citizens to El Salvador’s infamous mega-prisons. Reacting to the footage from Trump’s latest White House meeting, Navratilova didn’t mince words, calling the proposal an example of authoritarian cruelty and labeling Trump a "psychopath" for entertaining such a move.

The controversy erupted following a high-profile meeting between Donald Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele at the White House on April 14, 2025. It marked a significant moment in international relations, as Bukele became the first Latin American leader to be hosted by Trump since his return to office.

During the meeting, Trump praised Bukele for his aggressive crackdown on gang activity in El Salvador and suggested expanding that model to include convicted U.S. citizens. In turn, Bukele offered up space in his controversial Counter-Terrorism Confinement Centre (CECOT), a facility known globally for its harsh conditions, to house American deportees — even U.S. nationals.

The proposal was caught on camera when a reporter asked Trump how many "illegal criminals" he intended to export to El Salvador and whether Bukele would take them. Trump responded by saying:

"As many as possible. And I just asked the president, you know, it's this massive complex that he built, jail complex. I said, can you build some more of them, please? As many as we can get out of our country that were allowed in here by incompetent Joe Biden through open borders."

"So we have millions of people that should not be in this country that are dangerous. Not just people because we have people, but we have millions of people that are murderers, drug dealers. They've been allowed to come into our country by other countries that were very smart," he added.

The idea of outsourcing American incarceration to a foreign regime — particularly one with a track record of human rights violations — drew swift backlash from Trump critic Martina Navratilova. The 18-time Grand Slam singles champion reposted the video clip on X (formerly Twitter) and didn’t hold back in her response, writing:

"A racist fascist salivating at the prospect of imprisoning people without any due process- only a psychopath can do that."

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Martina Navratilova called Donald Trump a 'moron' over H1B visa reversal

In Picture: Martina Navratilova (Image source: Getty)

Martina Navratilova called Donald Trump a "moron" after his comments on the H1B visa program. Though he had opposed it during his 2016 campaign, Trump now claims the U.S. needs more skilled workers due to a coming job boom. When asked why he changed his stance, he offered a new justification, saying:

"I didn’t change my mind. I always felt we have to have the most competent people in our country. We need competent people. We need smart people coming into our country. We need a lot of people coming in. We’re going to have jobs like we’ve never had before."

Navratilova responded sharply, writing:

"What a moron. Everything is Like we never had before… sure…"

In other news, Martina Navratilova weighed in on whether she believes President Trump is suffering from mental illness.