Headline Roundup • March 27th, 2025
Kristi Noem Visits El Salvador Prison Holding Deported Venezuelans
Summary from the AllSides News Team
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited the mega-prison in El Salvador where deported Venezuelans are being held.
The Details: In a social media video filmed for the visit, Noem said, "First of all, do not come to our country illegally: You will be removed, and you will be prosecuted." She added that DHS would continue to work with El Salvador. The Trump Administration's policy of deportation under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act has sparked criticism from immigration advocates.
For Context: The US recently deported 238 Venezuelans to El Salvador under the 1798 Act, which allows for detention and deportation of citizens and natives of “enemy” countries outside of normal processes. The Trump administration's efforts to deport more foreign nationals to El Salvador were recently halted when an appeals court upheld a lower court's decision, placing a temporary injunction on the deportations.
How The Media Covered It: BBC (Center bias) emphasized the conditions of the prison and the criticism from human rights groups. Fox News (Right), highlighted Noem's warning to “illegal aliens” and the message her visit sends to other countries. CNN (Lean Left) mentioned the Trump administration “hasn’t identified who was deported or provided evidence that they’re gang members.”
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Featured Coverage of this Story
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has released a social media video filmed inside a controversial mega-prison in El Salvador, thanking the country and its president for "bringing our terrorists here and incarcerating them".
Secretary Noem was in the country to tour the facility, where US officials recently sent 238 Venezuelans.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem toured El Salvador's notorious Terrorism Confinement Center on Wednesday, where hundreds of alleged criminal illegal aliens are being held after the Trump administration deported them earlier this month.
Noem toured the prison with the Salvadoran Minister of Justice, Héctor Gustavo Villatoro, before meeting with El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. Noem’s visit is part of a three-day trip that will also see her travel to Colombia and Mexico.
Alex Brandon/Pool/Reuters
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday visited the high-security El Salvador prison where Venezuelans who the Trump administration alleges are gang members have been held since their removal from the United States. The tour included two crowded cell blocks, the armory and an isolation unit.
Noem’s trip to the prison — where inmates are packed into cells and never allowed outside — comes as the Trump administration seeks to show it is deporting people it describes as the “worst of the worst.”
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