**BOGOTA, Colombia**
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem arrived in El Salvador on Wednesday in the first of three scheduled stops in Latin America this week.
During her visit, Noem met with President Nayib Bukele and expressed gratitude for the Salvadoran government's cooperation in accepting deportation flights from the US. She affirmed that during her visit, she would discuss increasing the number of expulsions of violent criminals from the US.
The US Embassy in El Salvador said on X that Noem and Bukele spoke about "strengthening bilateral cooperation in matters of security and migration”
Prior to her meeting with Bukele, Noem visited El Salvador's high-security mega-prison, where 238 Venezuelan detainees are being held. US President Donald Trump's administration alleges these individuals are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and deported them on March 16.
“President Trump and I have a clear message to criminal illegal aliens: LEAVE NOW,” Noem said in video posted on social media that was filmed inside the prison, where dozens of tattooed inmates without t-shirts stood behind her.
“If you do not leave, we will hunt you down, arrest you, and you could end up in this El Salvadorian prison,” she added.
She thanked El Salvador and its president for "bringing our terrorists here and incarcerating them" and described the prison as "one of the tools in our toolbox."
The US government aims to demonstrate its deportation of individuals it deems "the worst of the worst." However, human rights advocates assert that detainees have been sent to a prison with documented human rights abuses. Several family members of the deportees also maintain that their relatives are not gang members.
The Trump administration has acknowledged that some of those deported have not committed crimes.
Salvadoran authorities, who received $6 million for accepting the detainees, said they would be held at the CECOT prison for a year. A legal team hired by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has asked the Supreme Court of Justice of El Salvador to evaluate the legality of their detention and order their release.
Following her visit to El Salvador, Noem will travel to Colombia to meet with President Gustavo Petro and then to Mexico to meet with President Claudia Sheinbaum.
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