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Agence France-Presse

US President Donald Trump’s homeland security chief on Wednesday visited the mega-prison in El Salvador where hundreds of Venezuelan migrants have been deported under contested legal grounds.
Standing in front of a cell of inmates who stripped to the waist to reveal their tattooed torsos, Kristi Noem recorded a message telling others that they risked the same consequences.
“Do not come to our country illegally. You will be removed and you will be prosecuted,” she said at the maximum security Terrorism Confinement Centre (CECOT).
“Know that this facility is one of the tools in our toolkit that we will use if you commit crimes against the American people.”

Trump invoked rarely used US wartime legislation in mid-March to bypass traditional deportation procedures and quickly flew 238 Venezuelans to El Salvador.
Washington accused them of all belonging to the Tren de Aragua criminal gang, which it has designated a “terrorist” organisation, but relatives and lawyers for several of the migrants say they have no connection to the group.
The deportations took place despite a US federal judge, on the same day, ordering a temporary halt.
The Trump administration subsequently appealed the halt, but a three-judge panel ruled on Wednesday that it can remain in effect.
On Monday, a law firm hired by Caracas filed a habeas corpus petition, demanding justification be provided for the migrants’ continued detention.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said the motion seeks the release of countrymen he described as having been kidnapped.

According to the White House, Washington paid the Bukele administration around US$6 million for the detention of the deportees.
Noem, on the first stop of a regional tour that will also include Colombia and Mexico, was also due to meet Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.
She said earlier that she would discuss how the United States “can increase the number of deportation flights and removals of violent criminals from the US”.
In a statement from the US embassy in San Salvador, the United States said that Noem had signed an information sharing agreement with Salvadoran Minister of Justice and Security Gustavo Villatoro.
“This agreement strengthens the commitment of both countries in the fight against transnational crime,” the embassy said.
Rights group Amnesty International said the mass expulsion “represents not only a flagrant disregard of the United States’ human rights obligations, but also a dangerous step toward authoritarian practices”.
It said there was “a clear and troubling connection” between Bukele’s methods and the recent US actions, as “both rely on a lack of due process and the criminalisation of individuals based on discriminatory criteria”.
Bukele has been hailed at home for his crackdown on violent crime – with tens of thousands of suspected gangsters sent to CECOT.

Human rights groups have criticised the drive for a wide range of alleged abuses.
Villatoro accompanied Noem on the visit to CECOT, considered the largest prison in Latin America.
Guarded by soldiers and police, the jail has high electrified walls and a capacity for 40,000 inmates, who are denied family visits.
Human rights organisations have voiced concern that more innocent migrants risk being incarcerated.
“There is growing evidence that many people who were sent to El Salvador are not part of Tren de Aragua, and that they are exposed to serious human rights violations,” said Juan Pappier, deputy Americas director at Human Rights Watch.
“The main danger is that the US continues sending innocent people” to Salvadoran prisons, he said.

Salvadoran authorities have arrested more than 86,000 suspected gang members under Bukele’s crackdown. Several thousand were released after being found innocent.
Collaborating with Trump “could be a risky move” for Bukele, despite the potential benefits, said Diego Chaves-Gonzalez, an analyst at the Migration Policy Institute in the United States.
“It could also generate tensions if a future US administration considers that these practices violate human rights or affect bilateral cooperation,” he said.
Salvadoran analyst and academic Carlos Carcach said the cooperation would reinforce the Central American country’s “negative image” due to Bukele’s methods.
“What we are witnessing is the consolidation of an authoritarian regime in El Salvador with the support of the world’s greatest power,” he said.
Additional reporting by Associated Press


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United States

At El Salvador mega-prison, US homeland security chief delivers tough migrant message

US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks as prisoners look out from a cell. Photo: Reuters

US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem tours the facility. Photo: Government of El Salvador via EPA -EFE

The prison has a capacity for 40,000 inmates, who are denied family visits. Photo: AFP

Prisoners at the CECOT facility. Photo: AFP

Salvadoran police escort alleged gang members recently deported by the US. Photo: Government of El Salvador via Reuters

Mexico seeks to prevent US from deporting Mexicans to Guantanamo Bay

Holding tents for detained migrants at the United States’ Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Photo: US Navy via Reuters

An alleged Venezuelan gang member who was deported to El Salvador by the US. Photo: Salvadoran Government via TNS

Men deported to El Salvador by US were denied due process, says Venezuelan lawmaker

An alleged Venezuelan gang member who was deported to  El Salvador by the US. Photo: Secretaria de Prensa de la Presidencia via Reuters

Alleged Venezuelan gang members who were deported to El Salvador by the US. Photo: Secretaria de Prensa de la Presidencia via Reuters

Trump questions judge’s impartiality ahead of appeal on Venezuelan deportations

US District Judge James Boasberg, chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Photo: AP

Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrive at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela on March 24. Photo: AP

A Honduran National Police officer checks the tattoos of migrants travelling on a bus for possible members of the Tren de Aragua gang, at a checkpoint in El Paraiso, Honduras on March 21. Photo: Reuters

US says holding migrants from 27 countries at Guantanamo Bay

The migrant detention centre operates separately from the military’s detention centre. Photo: US Navy via Reuters

Holding tents for detained migrants. Photo: US Navy via Reuters

Venezuelan migrants deported from US Naval Station Guantanamo Bay last month. Photo: AFP

Trump terminates legal protection for 500,000 immigrants

US President Donald Trump as he departs the White House for the Trump National Golf Club, in Washington. Photo: EPA-EFE

The Department of Homeland Security’s ICE detention facility in Jena, Louisiana, on Friday. Photo: AP

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World

United States & Canada

Americas

Kristi Noem’s trip to CECOT comes as the Trump administration seeks to show it is deporting the ‘worst of the worst’


Kristi Noem’s trip to CECOT comes as the Trump administration seeks to show it is deporting the ‘worst of the worst’.
