President Donald Trump has proposed shipping U.S. citizens who are repeat offenders and criminals to African countries to serve out their sentences as a means to drive down the crime rate while saving the country hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

Mr Trump on Monday told Republican lawmakers during a dinner at his Florida golf resort that he will not be harbouring violent and repeat offenders in the U.S. and would rather have them moved to African prisons where it is cheaper to maintain them “for a small fee.”

He believes the policy has a great potential to make offenders rethink their planned crime if they know beforehand that they might end up in a Third World prison.

The U.S. leader hit the ground running since assuming office last Monday. He signed a flurry of executive orders, including those that diminished the rights of persons with different sexual and gender orientations, insisting that only two genders would be recognised in America, “male and female.”

On Monday, he said his administration has no intention to continue squandering millions of dollars to keep repeat and violent offenders off the streets.

The president, who has vowed to crack down on illegal immigrants, admitted that some U.S. citizens were also fond of breaking the law without fear of prosecution and prison sentence.

“They are very dangerous people, very violent people,” Mr Trump said as he made his case in front of GOP members of the House. “They did not necessarily come here illegally but have been arrested 30 times, 41, 42 times, in a couple of months. Many for murders, other heinous charges such as pushing people into subways.”

The president said his stance on repeat violent offenders was the same as illegal immigrants — “get them the hell out” of the U.S.

“I don’t want these violent repeat offenders in our country any more than I want illegal aliens from other countries who misbehave,” said the U.S. president.

“They’re repeat offenders by many numbers. I want them out of our country. I also will be seeking permission to do so,” Mr Trump said to rousing applause from his party members. 

“Let them be brought to a foreign land and maintained by others for a very small fee, as opposed to be maintained in our jails for massive amounts of money, including the private prison companies that charge us a fortune. Let them be brought out of our country and let them live there for a while. Let’s see how they like it,” he said.

The proposed policy could save the U.S. a large sum annually if Congress approves it. For instance, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons said it costs $42,672 (N66 million) to house one prisoner per year, while it only costs N1 million to house a prisoner in Nigeria.

Mr Trump’s proposal —to use African and other Third World countries to hold criminals and deportees— draws parallels from the UK, which sought to grant illegal immigrants asylum to live in Rwanda.

The UK shelved the policy after Keir Starmer of the Labour Party became prime minister in July 2024.