Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak during a tour, Monday, March 17, 2025, in Kodiak, Alaska. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak during a tour, Monday, March 17, 2025, in Kodiak, Alaska. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday is headed south of the border to visit the high-security El Salvador prison holding the alleged illegal immigrant gang members the Trump administration deported there this month.
Ms. Noem is slated to tour the Terrorism Confinement Center with the Salvadoran minister of justice, Hector Gustavo Villatoro, then meet with El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.
“This week, I’m headed down to El Salvador,” Ms. Noem said at a Cabinet meeting at the White House Monday. “I’ll be in the prison where we sent [Tren de Aragua] gang members.”
She added, “I’ll be meeting with the president and also Colombia and Mexico and talking about building these relationships so we can continue to get people out of this country that don’t belong here and take them home.”
The El Salvador prison has become a flashpoint in the debate over President Trump’s aggressive push to deport criminal illegal immigrants.
Mr. Bukele opened the sprawling jail in 2023 as part of his aggressive push to crack down on crime that has led to reported human rights abuses.
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Two weeks ago, the Trump administration transferred hundreds of alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and MS-13 to the prison under an 18th-century wartime declaration.
Mr. Bukele posted a video of the 261 immigrants arriving at the El Salvador prison after they were deported March 15 under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg issued an order temporarily blocking the deportations, but administration lawyers told him two planes with immigrants were already in the air.
Judge Boasberg verbally ordered the planes to be turned around, but they were not. He also ruled that the deported immigrants should have had the opportunity to make the case they were not TdA members or terrorists.
The battle has become a constitutional tug-of-war between the Trump administration and the courts.
The Trump administration has shot down the idea that it would bring the alleged gang members back to America.
Some Democrats and human rights activists have raised concerns about the lack of due process granted to the deported immigrants.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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