DHS Secretary Kristi Noem tours the terrorist confinement center in El Salvador
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem was given a tour of the terrorist confinement center in El Salvador, where she came face-to-face with alleged Tren de Aragua gang members.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem toured El Salvador's notorious Terrorism Confinement Center on Wednesday, where hundreds of alleged criminal illegal aliens are being held after the Trump administration deported them earlier this month.
Noem toured the prison with the Salvadoran Minister of Justice, Héctor Gustavo Villatoro, before meeting with El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. Noem’s visit is part of a three-day trip that will also see her travel to Colombia and Mexico.
Video of the tour showed Noem coming face to face with alleged members of Tren de Aragua, all of whom were shirtless and had shaved heads, while also donning white prison pants.
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She also sent a message to illegal aliens who are still in the U.S. or plan to visit anytime soon.
As prisoners stand looking out from a cell, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a tour of the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
"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."
Noem shared the 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 as El Salvador wages a crackdown on powerful street gangs causing mayhem in the country. The facility has eight sprawling pavilions and can hold up to 40,000 inmates. As many as 65 to 70 prisoners are packed into each cell.
Prisoners are never allowed outside and can't have visitors. There are no workshops or educational programs.
In this photo provided by El Salvador's presidential press office, prison guards transfer deportees from the U.S. alleged to be Venezuelan gang members to the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on Sunday, March 16. (El Salvador presidential press office via AP)
A senior Trump administration official confirmed to Fox News this month that a total of 261 illegal aliens were deported to El Salvador on March 15. The majority of them were deported via the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which allows for the expulsion of an enemy nation's natives and citizens without a hearing.
More than 100 of the migrants were Venezuelans removed via Title 8, while 21 others were Salvadoran MS-13 gang members, the official added. Two were MS-13 ringleaders and "special cases" for El Salvador.
Video released by El Salvador’s government after the deportees' arrival showed men, shackled at their hands and ankles, exiting airplanes onto an airport tarmac lined by heavily armed officers in riot gear.
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The men were later shown at the prison kneeling on the ground as their heads were shaved before they changed into the prison’s all-white uniform — knee-length shorts, T-shirt, socks and rubber clogs — and placed in cells.
A prison guard transfers deportees from the U.S. to the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on Sunday, March 16. (El Salvador presidential press office via AP)
El Salvador has been operating under a state of emergency that suspends fundamental rights for nearly three years as Bukele deals with the street gangs. Some 84,000 people have been arrested so far, accused of gang ties and jailed, often without due process according to the Associated Press.
Bukele offered to hold U.S. deportees in the prison when U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited in February.
In a March 16 post on Truth Social, President Donald Trump wrote that the U.S. "will not forget" Bukele's partnership, and thanked the leader for his "understanding of this horrible situation, which was allowed to happen to the United States because of incompetent Democrat leadership."
Fox News Digital’s Adrea Margolis and Emma Colton, along with The Associated Press, contributed to this report.
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