Secretary of Homeland Security visits Salvadoran prison holding US deportees

San Salvador, (EFE). – United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem toured on Wednesday afternoon the maximum security Salvadoran prison, where more than 200 migrants deported from the US are being held.

The deportees, most of them Venezuelans, were sent to El Salvador on Mar. 15 under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which President Donald Trump invoked to speed up the mass deportation of alleged members of the transnational gang Tren de Aragua.

Noem, who is on an official visit to El Salvador, toured the Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot), a mega-jail symbol of President Nayib Bukele’s so-called war against gangs.

The mega-prison is in an isolated and arid area in the central city of Tecoluca, more than 75 kilometers from the capital, San Salvador.

The US official was met there by El Salvador’s minister of justice and security, Gustavo Villatoro.

Noem said on X that the deportations to the mega-prison in El Salvador “sent a message to the world that America is no longer a safe haven for violent criminals.”

Accompanied by a heavy security detail, as seen in photos shared by the presidency, Noem began her tour in the intake area, where inmates pass through a scanner.

She then went to the warehouse and armory area and later to Cell 8, where some of the alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang, originally from Venezuela, are being held.

Noem also saw the Salvadoran gang leaders held at Cecot.

After the visit to the prison, the US officials will meet privately with President Bukele to discuss, among other things, the increase in deportations and detentions of migrants in the country.

Noem’s is the second visit by a senior official of the Donald Trump administration to meet with Bukele, the first being Secretary of State Marco Rubio in February, when Bukele initially offered Salvadoran prisons to hold convicted criminals, but did not discuss their use for irregular migrants.

US media reports indicate that at least 101 of the 200 migrants sent to El Salvador were arrested in immigration proceedings.

So far, the Salvadoran government has not explained under what regulations it has detained these individuals in the Cecot since there is no treaty between both countries and the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly has not approved one.

Additionally, the deportees do not have arrest warrants or criminal proceedings in the Central American country that would justify their imprisonment.

Human rights organizations in El Salvador have denounced human rights violations in the country’s mega-prisons amid the state of emergency declared by the government in 2022.EFE