Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will embark on a Central American tour next week, with a key stop at El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center where Resist the Mainstream reported that hundreds of criminal migrants were recently deported from the United States.
DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin emphasized on Sunday that the trip “underscores the importance of our partner countries to help remove violent criminal illegal aliens from the United States.”
“President Trump and Secretary Noem have a clear message for criminal aliens considering entering America illegally: don’t even think about it,” McLaughlin told Fox News. “If you come to our country and break our laws, we will hunt you down, and lock you up.”
Noem’s Central American tour reportedly begins March 26 with a visit to the Terrorism Confinement Center alongside Salvadoran Minister of Justice Héctor Gustavo Villatoro, followed by a meeting with President Nayib Bukele.
The former South Dakota governor will continue to Colombia on March 27 to meet with President Gustavo Petro and specialized police units focused on fighting organized crime.
Her trip concludes in Mexico on March 28 with a meeting with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, per Fox.
The high-profile visit follows last week’s deportation of 261 illegal aliens to El Salvador on March 15. Footage released by El Salvador showed alleged gang members with their heads bowed as armed Salvadoran authorities transported them to detention facilities, Resist the Mainstream reported.
The images have circulated widely across media outlets, showcasing the administration’s hardline approach to immigration enforcement.
Fox reported that a senior Trump administration official noted most deportees were removed under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which permits expulsion of an enemy nation’s citizens without a hearing.
The group included 101 Venezuelans removed under Title 8 provisions and 21 Salvadoran MS-13 gang members, including two ringleaders described as “special cases” for El Salvador.
The criminal records of those deported included serious offenses such as aggravated assault, robbery, kidnapping, s*xual abuse of a child, prostitution and aggravated assault of a police officer.
Officials have emphasized that these deportations target individuals with documented criminal histories rather than general migrant populations.
Fox noted that President Bukele, a known Trump ally, stated that these deportation flights will assist Salvadoran authorities in “finalizing intelligence gathering and going after the last remnants of MS-13, including its former and new members, money, weapons, drugs, hideouts, collaborators, and sponsors.”
“As always, we continue advancing in the fight against organized crime,” Bukele added.
“But this time, we are also helping our allies, making our prison system self-sustainable, and obtaining vital intelligence to make our country an even safer place. All in a single action. May God bless El Salvador, and may God bless the United States.”
President Trump expressed gratitude for the partnership on his Truth Social platform on March 16, thanking Bukele for his “understanding of this horrible situation, which was allowed to happen to the United States because of incompetent Democrat leadership.”
“These are the monsters sent into our Country by Crooked Joe Biden and the Radical Left Democrats,” Trump wrote. “How dare they!”
As Noem prepares for her visit, security measures are being heightened along the travel route. The Secretary’s itinerary includes not only high-level meetings with foreign leaders but also operational briefings with law enforcement officials working on transnational crime prevention.
