US Official Warns Migrants Against Entry During Visit to El Salvador Prison
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - US Homeland Security Chief Kristi Noem visited El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) on Wednesday, urging migrants to refrain from illegal entry into the United States, warning that they could face deportation and criminal prosecution.
Standing before a cell of shirtless inmates, their torsos covered in tattoos, Kristi Noem recorded a message warning others that they could face similar consequences.
"Do not come to our country illegally. You will be removed and you will be prosecuted," she said at the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), El Salvador’s maximum-security prison.
"Know that this facility is one of the tools in our toolkit that we will use if you commit crimes against the American people," she added.
In mid-March, Trump invoked rarely used US wartime legislation to bypass standard deportation procedures, sending 238 Venezuelans to El Salvador on expedited flights.
Washington alleged that all those deported were members of the Tren de Aragua criminal gang, which it has designated a terrorist organization. However, relatives and lawyers for some of the migrants deny any affiliation with the group.
The deportations proceeded despite a US federal judge issuing a temporary halt the same day. While the Trump administration appealed the ruling, a three-judge panel on Wednesday upheld the suspension.
On Monday, a law firm hired by Caracas filed a habeas corpus petition, demanding justification for the migrants' continued detention. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said the motion aimed to secure the release of "kidnapped" countrymen.
The White House said it had paid El Salvador's government around $6 million for the migrants’ detention.
Noem, on the first leg of a regional tour that includes Colombia and Mexico, was also scheduled to meet Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. She stated that discussions would focus on increasing deportation flights and removing violent criminals from the US
In a statement, the US embassy in San Salvador announced that Noem had signed an information-sharing agreement with Salvadoran Minister of Justice and Security Gustavo Villatoro.
"This agreement strengthens the commitment of both countries in the fight against transnational crime," the embassy said.
Criticism from Rights Groups
Amnesty International condemned the mass deportations, calling them a "flagrant disregard of the United States’ human rights obligations" and warning of a "dangerous step toward authoritarian practices."
The organization said there was a "clear and troubling connection" between Bukele’s security policies and recent US actions, arguing that both rely on a lack of due process and the criminalization of individuals based on discriminatory criteria.
Bukele, widely popular at home for his aggressive crackdown on crime, has overseen the incarceration of tens of thousands of suspected gang members at CECOT. While his policies have been praised domestically, human rights organizations have raised concerns over abuses.
Villatoro accompanied Noem during her visit to CECOT, which is considered Latin America's largest prison. Guarded by soldiers and police, the facility has high electrified walls and can hold up to 40,000 inmates, who are denied family visits.
Human rights advocates fear that innocent migrants could be wrongly imprisoned.
"There is growing evidence that many people sent to El Salvador are not part of Tren de Aragua and that they face serious human rights violations," said Juan Pappier, deputy Americas director at Human Rights Watch.
"The main danger is that the US continues sending innocent people" to Salvadoran prisons, he told AFP.
Salvadoran authorities have arrested more than 86,000 suspected gang members under Bukele’s crackdown, though several thousand were later released after being found innocent.
Diego Chaves-Gonzalez, an analyst at the Migration Policy Institute in the US, noted that while cooperation with Trump could benefit Bukele, it also carried risks.
"It could generate tensions if a future US administration considers these practices to be human rights violations or harmful to bilateral cooperation," he said.
Salvadoran academic Carlos Carcach warned that the partnership could further tarnish the country's reputation.
"What we are witnessing is the consolidation of an authoritarian regime in El Salvador with the support of the world's greatest power," he said.
