Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended a video she took while touring a mega prison in El Salvador, arguing that it was an image people needed to see for transparency—and to scare those in the country illegally.
She filmed the promo—during which she insisted that the facility was part of the Trump administration’s “toolkit” for dealing with undocumented immigrants—at the country’s infamous Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT).
“Yes, people need to see that image,” Noem said during an interview with Bret Baier on Fox News on Monday, agreeing that images she posted last week of her standing in front of cells full of prisons were sending a message. “They need to see that the United States is going to use every tool that we have to make our communities safer. That that is a consequence of someone who is a terrorist.”
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“The president has declared Tren de Aragua and MS-13 as terrorist organizations and the president of El Salvador has as well. The only people allowed in that prison are terrorists,” Noem continued. “And to tour that and to look at that was giving the American people the transparency that they want out of their government.
“They were able to see exactly where we’re sending these people who have murdered and raped Americans, that have decimated communities, and there’s going to be consequences for individuals who continue to do that.”
In a jarring publicity move last week, Noem filmed herself talking to a camera right in front of a crowded prison cell at CECOT as its occupants looked on toward her.
“If you do not leave, we will hunt you down, arrest you, and you could end up in this El Salvadorian prison,” Noem captioned the video which she posted on social media.
Over the past few months, the Trump administration has launched an increasingly hostile crackdown on migrants allegedly living in the country illegally. In March, the administration deported hundreds of migrants it claimed were members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, though several reports have since come out claiming that some were wrongfully deported and had no affiliation with the gang or criminal record.
While Noem has not been a stranger to a photo op since her secretary tenure began, her stunt last week drew immediate criticism online—with many likening the images to a “concentration camp.”
“Those are human f---ing beings behind you, not f---ing props,” one X user wrote to Noem. “That looks like a concentration camp. This is utterly reprehensible. Shame on you.”
