Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem made headlines Wednesday with a high-profile visit to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, a maximum-security prison notorious for housing some of the Western Hemisphere’s most violent gang members, including MS-13 and Tren de Aragua operatives deported from the United States.
During the visit, Noem toured the sprawling facility and came face-to-face with inmates previously apprehended and expelled by the Trump administration. The optics were unmistakable — towering cells packed with heavily tattooed gang enforcers, many of whom had crossed U.S. borders illegally and were now serving sentences in one of the region’s harshest prison systems.
I toured the CECOT, El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center.
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. pic.twitter.com/OItDqNsFxM
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) March 26, 2025
Noem used the moment to deliver a direct warning. Filming a brief PSA from inside the prison walls, she told criminal illegal aliens: “Do not come to our country illegally. You will be removed, and you will be prosecuted.” Standing with the prisoners visibly behind her, she added, “This facility is one of the tools in our toolkit… if you commit crimes against the American people.”
The video, later posted on X, was accompanied by a message that reinforced the administration’s stance: “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.”
The moment was as symbolic as it was political. It not only underscored the administration’s commitment to its immigration enforcement agenda, but also highlighted growing international cooperation under Trump’s second term. Noem publicly thanked Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele for his continued partnership, stating that the U.S. was holding violent actors accountable with the help of trusted allies.
🚨| #ÚLTIMAHORA: La secretaria de Seguridad Nacional de EE.UU. Kristi Noem, llega a el CECOT, la Mega cárcel de El Salvador, donde se encuentran los peores criminales de las pandillas MS-13 y ahora los terroristas del TREN DE ARAGUA.🔥 ¡Al tirano Nicolás Maduro NO le gusta esto! pic.twitter.com/jGL4EQr5pC
— Eduardo Menoni (@eduardomenoni) March 26, 2025
However, the visit came amid legal friction back home. Federal District Judge James Boasberg had recently issued an injunction halting the Trump administration’s deportation flights of suspected gang members under the Alien Enemies Act — a wartime statute that allows for expedited removals without formal hearings. Boasberg’s order forced ICE to reroute deportation flights mid-air.
On Wednesday, a federal appeals court refused to block Boasberg’s decision. The ruling drew sharp criticism from both administration officials and Trump allies, especially after Judge Patricia Millett suggested that “Nazis got better treatment” under the statute than the Venezuelan deportees — a statement that raised eyebrows in legal and political circles.
Despite the judicial setback, DHS and immigration enforcement leaders signaled no change in posture. Former acting ICE Director Tom Homan declared over the weekend, “We’re going to continue to arrest public safety threats and national security threats. We’re going to continue to deport them from the United States.”
According to senior administration officials, 261 illegal immigrants were deported to El Salvador in mid-March. Of those, over 100 were Venezuelan nationals removed under Title 8, while 21 were MS-13 members, including two identified as high-value targets by Salvadoran authorities.
