Kristi Noem Uses El Salvador’s Nightmarish Megaprison To Create Content
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited one of the Western Hemisphere’s most brutal prisons yesterday for a typical reason: to create some social media content.
Noem arrived yesterday at El Salvador’s Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT), a megaprison that human rights groups say is overcrowded and deadly, where no one ever leaves alive. Earlier this month, the Trump administration summarily deported over 150 alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a violent Venezuelan gang, and sent them to CECOT under an agreement with El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele.
Noem posted a video to X of her standing in front of a cell of tattooed, grim-faced CECOT inmates, where she warned that the prison was one possible destination for those who enter the U.S. illegally.
I toured the CECOT, El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center.
President Trump and I have a clear message to criminal illegal aliens: LEAVE NOW. Â
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
“I’m here at CECOT today visiting this facility,” Noem said. “And, first of all, I want to thank El Salvador and their president for their partnership with the United States of America to bring our terrorists here and to incarcerate them and have consequences for the violence they have perpetuated in our communities. I also want everyone to know, if you come to our country illegally, this is one of the consequences you could face. First of all, do not come to our country illegally. You will be removed, and you will be prosecuted. 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.”
The photo-op was a hit among the Trump administration’s target audience. Fox News breathlessly reported that Noem came “face-to-face with alleged Tren de Aragua members.”
However, the Trump administration has refused to provide evidence that those deportees had actual gang ties, and media reports have found numerous cases of Venezuelans sent to CECOT who appear to be anything but the hardened “terrorists” and “hei
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