Trump warns Tesla vandals could serve 20-year sentence in El Salvador prisons where inmates are tortured
WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump just cranked things up to eleven, threatening serious jail time—and even deportation—for anyone caught vandalizing Tesla vehicles.
“People that get caught sabotaging Teslas will stand a very good chance of going to jail for up to 20 years, and that includes the funders," Trump posted on Truth Social. "WE ARE LOOKING FOR YOU!!!”
Just hours later, he doubled down by throwing in a jaw-dropping proposal.
“I look forward to watching the sick terrorist thugs get 20-year jail sentences for what they are doing to Elon Musk and Tesla. Perhaps they could serve them in the prisons of El Salvador, which have become so recently famous for such lovely conditions!” he added.
Legal experts told NPR that deporting US citizens is unconstitutional. Even shipping non-citizens off to Salvadoran jails—which has already been done under Trump’s administration—is legally shaky given the documented human rights abuses that take place at the prisons.
A 2023 State Department report noted how inmates in El Salvador’s prisons have been electrocuted, tortured, and beaten to death.
Tesla is under attack across the US
Donald Trump’s fury comes after Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that three suspects had been arrested for allegedly attempting to torch Teslas and charging stations with Molotov cocktails across Oregon, Colorado, and South Carolina. The charges they’re facing could land them behind bars for up to 20 years.
But those arrests actually happened weeks ago, according to The New York Times. Bondi’s big announcement seems to have been strategically timed in response to a fresh wave of Tesla-related arson attacks.
The latest strikes are not just small-time vandalism incidents. On Monday, two Cybertrucks went up in flames at a Kansas City dealership. Then, on Tuesday, an arsonist set an entire row of Teslas ablaze at a service center in Las Vegas.
With the heat turning up, Bondi had a clear message for any potential attackers. “Let this be a warning: If you join this wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties, the Department of Justice will put you behind bars,” she said.
The defendants are being charged with arson or attempted arson affecting interstate commerce, which come with some hefty sentences attached.
Why are people targeting Tesla?
The electric car giant has been a magnet for controversy of late. The anger is mostly directed at Elon Musk, who’s not just running Tesla and SpaceX but also heading a secretive government cost-cutting task force known as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
DOGE’s mission is to slash federal agencies, purge civil servants, and cancel billions in wasteful government contracts. As Musk’s wrecking ball swings through Washington, DC, the backlash has been brutal.
Tesla’s stock has nosedived, sales in Europe and China have tanked, and protests have erupted at dealerships across the US. Some people are taking their frustrations to the streets—and straight to Tesla’s properties.
But Bondi isn’t buying the idea that these attacks are random acts of rebellion. She claims there’s a bigger, more organized force behind them. “These attacks aren’t isolated incidents. There are people operating behind the scenes to coordinate and fund these crimes," she insisted.
Trump is also using his social media megaphone to paint it as a coordinated conspiracy against his billionaire ally.
