Kristi Noem Visits El Salvador Prison Holding Deportees \ Newslooks \ Washington DC \ Mary Sidiqi \ Evening Edition \ Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited a high-security El Salvador prison where deported Venezuelan migrants are being held under Trump’s Alien Enemies Act order. The visit highlights the administration’s crackdown on alleged gang members, but legal and human rights challenges are intensifying. Critics say detainees face extreme conditions and lack due process.
Kristi Noem Visits El Salvador Prison Holding Deportees: Quick Looks
- Noem toured El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center on Wednesday
- Prison holds Venezuelan migrants deported under the Alien Enemies Act
- Detainees allegedly tied to Tren de Aragua gang
- Legal advocates say many have no criminal records or charges
- Deportations continue despite federal court order halting removals
- Noem warned immigrants: “Do not come illegally”
- Detainees face harsh conditions: no visitors, no programs
- Deportees appear to lack consular access or court hearings
- Court ruling blocks further deportations under 1798 wartime law
- El Salvador has no diplomatic ties with Venezuela
Deep Look
Kristi Noem Tours Controversial El Salvador Prison Amid Legal and Human Rights Scrutiny of Venezuelan Deportations
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday toured one of the world’s most notorious prisons—El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center—where Venezuelan migrants recently deported from the United States are being held under a rarely used 18th-century law. The visit is part of a broader campaign by the Trump administration to showcase its hardline immigration stance and its assertion that these migrants are tied to violent gangs.
But legal battles, diplomatic tensions, and mounting concerns over human rights violations are casting a long shadow over the administration’s actions.
A Harsh Deterrent on Display
Noem’s prison visit included inspection of overcrowded cell blocks, an armory, and isolation cells. Inmates—some shirtless, others tattooed with gang insignias—were lined up by guards. Venezuelans accused of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang, which the administration has labeled an “invading force,” stared silently from their cells in the stifling heat.
Outside, some detainees chanted as Noem exited the building.
“This is one of the consequences you could face,” Noem warned in a recorded message, directing her words toward undocumented immigrants. “You will be removed and you will be prosecuted.”
The message was part of her continued push to frame immigration enforcement as crime prevention, as the administration seeks to increase deportation flights and expand partnerships with regional governments like El Salvador’s, despite growing scrutiny.
Deportations Under Wartime Powers Spark Legal Outrage
The Venezuelan migrants in question were removed from the U.S. under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a wartime law last invoked during World War II. The Trump administration cited national security and criminal gang threats as justification for bypassing immigration court and sending them to a country they are not from—and with which Venezuela has no diplomatic ties.
Critics say the move violates due process and international norms. Many deportees had no opportunity to challenge their classification, and some were aboard planes mid-flight when a federal judge issued a verbal order halting the removals on March 15.
The administration argued that the verbal order didn’t count, and that only the written injunction was binding—an argument currently under appeal.
This week, a federal appeals court refused to lift the block on further deportations, citing unresolved constitutional issues and the need for judicial oversight.
Families and Lawyers Deny Gang Allegations
The Trump administration has called the deported individuals “the worst of the worst,” but hasn’t identified them publicly or presented evidence of criminal activity.
Many of the Venezuelan detainees’ families and legal advocates insist they have no ties to gangs. A Venezuelan legal team representing about 30 deportees said their clients have no criminal records and have never appeared before a judge in El Salvador.
To make matters worse, El Salvador’s severed diplomatic relationship with Venezuela means the migrants have no consular support, leaving them effectively stateless and isolated.
Life Inside the Terrorism Confinement Center
Opened in 2023 under Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, the prison is a cornerstone of the country’s crackdown on gang violence. The complex can house up to 40,000 inmates across eight sprawling pavilions. Cells hold 65–70 people, with no access to outdoor space, educational programs, or visitors.
Human rights groups say the conditions amount to inhumane treatment and note that tens of thousands have been detained under El Salvador’s ongoing state of emergency, which suspends key constitutional rights.
Video footage released by the Salvadoran government shows shackled men disembarking planes, their heads bowed as they were marched past riot police. The detainees later appeared kneeling in prison yards, their heads being shaved before they were processed and assigned uniforms.
Diplomatic and Political Dimensions
El Salvador’s Justice Minister Gustavo Villatoro accompanied Noem and emphasized the prison’s role in isolating dangerous individuals. Standing before tattooed inmates, he remarked:
“No one expects that these people can go back to society and behave.”
President Bukele first offered to detain U.S. deportees in February, during a visit by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a controversial proposal that bypasses traditional immigration agreements.
Meanwhile, the White House says Noem’s visit is part of efforts to expand deportation logistics, with discussions underway to increase flights and removals to countries like El Salvador, Colombia, and Mexico—two of which Noem will visit next.
Constitutional Clash Looms
At the heart of the legal challenge is whether the Alien Enemies Act, passed in 1798 to expel foreign nationals from enemy countries during wartime, can be applied in a non-war context. Trump has declared that the Tren de Aragua gang constitutes an invasion, thereby activating the statute.
But civil rights groups argue that using wartime powers in peacetime—especially without judicial review—sets a dangerous precedent and violates the Constitution.
A major question remains: How and when, if ever, will the Venezuelan detainees be released? None have been formally charged in El Salvador or appear in any ICE databases.
For now, they remain held indefinitely in a foreign prison, their fate entangled in an escalating legal, political, and humanitarian crisis.
Kristi Noem Visits
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