Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will travel to Central and South America next week as part of a high-profile tour focused on deportations and international cooperation to combat transnational crime—beginning with a visit to El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT).
The trip, first reported by Fox News Digital, comes just days after the Trump administration deported 261 criminal migrants, many of them alleged gang members, under expedited removal policies. The mass deportations—some carried out using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798—have drawn international attention and controversy. RELATED: VIDEO: Gangsters Grounded: 200+ Deported Tren de Aragua Suspects Arrive At El Salvador’s Mega-Prison
On March 26, Noem is scheduled to visit CECOT, a sprawling maximum-security prison in Tecoluca, alongside El Salvador’s Minister of Justice, Héctor Gustavo Villatoro, and will meet later that day with President Nayib Bukele, a close ally of President Donald Trump.
“President Trump and Secretary Noem have a clear message for criminal aliens considering entering America illegally: don’t even think about it,” said DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin. “If you come to our country and break our laws, we will hunt you down, and lock you up.”
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Noem’s visit comes just over a week after graphic footage circulated of hundreds of deported migrants, allegedly tied to gangs, being transferred into El Salvador’s CECOT. The video showed detainees lined up shirtless, with shaved heads and their hands on their heads, as heavily armed guards surrounded them.
Among the 261 deportees on March 15:
- 101 were Venezuelan nationals removed under Title 8 provisions;
- 21 were Salvadoran MS-13 gang members, including two high-ranking ringleaders;
Others were deported under the Alien Enemies Act, a rarely invoked 18th-century law allowing deportation without hearings in times of national security concern.
According to U.S. officials, deportees had criminal records including aggravated assault, child sexual abuse, kidnapping, and assault on law enforcement officers.
President Trump praised the joint effort in a Truth Social post, saying the U.S. “will not forget” Bukele’s partnership, and accused the Biden administration of allowing criminal migrants to flood into the country.
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“These are the monsters sent into our Country by Crooked Joe Biden and the Radical Left Democrats,” Trump wrote. “How dare they!”
After her El Salvador visit, Secretary Noem will travel to Colombia on March 27, where she will meet with President Gustavo Petro and the Colombian National Police’s organized crime unit. On March 28, she will conclude her trip with a meeting in Mexico City with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, where border enforcement and regional anti-gang efforts are expected to top the agenda.
The tour underscores the Trump administration’s focus on partnering with Latin American nations to crack down on illegal immigration and dismantle transnational criminal networks.
President Bukele hailed the deportation effort as a strategic win for both countries, stating that it not only strengthens El Salvador’s intelligence gathering against MS-13 but also contributes to the country’s prison system sustainability.
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“We continue advancing in the fight against organized crime,” Bukele said in a statement. “We are also helping our allies… and obtaining vital intelligence to make our country an even safer place. All in a single action.”
With Noem’s high-profile visit and Trump’s vocal support, the administration appears set on intensifying its zero-tolerance immigration and security policies—and using international partnerships to do it.
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