March 26 (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem toured an El Salvador prison where hundreds of deportees were sent by the Trump administration to the Central American nation.
Noem went to the Terrorist Confinement Center, or CECOT, with Salvadoran Minister of Justice Gustavo Villatoro and then met with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. She is scheduled to visit Colombia on Thursday and Mexico on Friday.
Noem came face to face with alleged members of Tren de Aragua, all of whom were shirtless, had shaved heads and wore white prison pants, according to Fox News, which had a reporter on the tour.
"First of all, do not come to our country illegally: You will be removed, and you will be prosecuted," she said while standing with her back to the inmates. "But know that this facility is one of the tools in our toolkit that we will use if you commit crimes against the American people."
Related
Noem shared video on X, saying, "President Trump and I have a clear message to criminal illegal aliens: LEAVE NOW. If you do not leave, we will hunt you down, arrest you and you could end up in this El Salvadorian prison."
Bukele opened the prison in 2023.
In a March 16 post on Truth Social, one day after two flights of deportees were sent to the Central American country, President Donald Trump thanked Bukele "for your understanding of this horrible situation, which was allowed to happen to the United States because of incompetent Democrat leadership."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited the prison in February.
The Trump administration had alleged 238 men sent there were members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and had them deported to El Salvador on March 15 under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act. They were then sent to CECOT for imprisonment.
A federal appeals court panel on Wednesday ruled 2-1 in favor of a lower court's restraining order against the Trump administration deporting alleged gang members under the 1798 Enemy Aliens Act.
Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia James Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order that same day, which both blocked the deportation for 14 days and denied the government's ability to invoke the Alien Enemies Act in order to deport any immigrants.
The order also directed the government to comply immediately, which meant any planes that may have already left were to turn around and return.
Nonetheless, the Trump administration completed the flights that carried the migrants to El Salvador. Bukele then said that they "were immediately transferred to CECOT, the Terrorism Confinement Center, for a period of one year," which he added could be extended.
Once it was publicized by the media that flights had been ordered to turn around but did not, Bukele posted to X "Oopsie," and "Too late," with a laughing emoji.
Bukele has been dealing with the street gangs, and three years ago put the nation of 6.4 million people under a state of emergency that suspends fundamental rights.
