In an unprecedented and decidedly controversial move, the Trump administration has deported hundreds of allegedly dangerous criminal illegal aliens and gang members, many from Venezuela, not to their home nations but instead to a maximum security prison facility in El Salvador.

On Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem toured the special detention center for hardcore gang members and terrorists and issued a warning to criminal illegal aliens in the U.S. that they might end up there if they don't quickly self-deport, Fox News reported.

Noem's visit to the Salvadoran prison came during a three-day trip in which she will also travel to Colombia and Mexico to reach agreements on dealing with illegal aliens and fugitive criminals, among other things.

Noem tours El Salvador's CECOT prison

During her visit on Wednesday to El Salvador, Sec. Noem joined Salvadoran Minister of Justice Héctor Gustavo Villatoro for a tour of the Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT, that was first opened in 2022, can hold up to 40,000 inmates, and is "notorious" among human rights groups for its exceedingly harsh conditions.

"I toured the CECOT, El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center," Noem wrote in an X post. "President Trump and I have a clear message to criminal illegal aliens: LEAVE NOW. If you do not leave, we will hunt you down, arrest you, and you could end up in this El Salvadorian prison."

The post included a brief video that featured the secretary standing in front of a packed cell of inmates while she thanked El Salvador and President Nayib Bukele for their "partnership" with the U.S. to "bring our terrorists here and incarcerate them, and have consequences for the violence that they have perpetuated in our communities."

"I also want everybody to know, if you come to our country illegally, this is one of the consequences you could face," Noem added. "First of all, do not come to our country illegally. You will be removed, and you will be prosecuted. But know that this facility is one of the tools in our toolkit that we will use if you commit crimes against the American people."

I toured the CECOT, El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center.

President Trump and I have a clear message to criminal illegal aliens: LEAVE NOW.

If you do not leave, we will hunt you down, arrest you, and you could end up in this El Salvadorian prison. pic.twitter.com/OItDqNsFxM

— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) March 26, 2025

Human rights groups speak out

Rather predictably, Sec. Noem's video was sharply criticized and rebuked as inhumane "political theater" by several left-leaning human rights organizations, according to The Guardian.

The groups denounced the Trump administration's relentless crackdown on criminal illegal aliens and the court-blocked invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which they allege has been used to violate constitutional due process rights and to mistakenly send some innocent individuals to the "infamous" Salvadoran prison.

"The Department of Homeland Security secretary’s visit is an example of the fear that Trump’s government wants to instill in immigrants," Ivania Cruz, of El Salvador's Committee to Defend Human and Community Rights, said in a statement. "This is precisely what Noem has done -- use the CECOT as a cinematographic space."

Vicki Gass, of the Washington D.C.-based Latin America Working Group, said that Noem's visit "was a typical gross and cruel display of political theater that we have come to expect from the Trump administration," and added, "That the Trump administration is flouting judicial orders and denying due process to people within the U.S. borders is outrageous and frightening."

Not a place that anybody would want to be

To be sure, El Salvador's CECOT is a brutal prison that was specifically designed for and intended to house particularly dangerous individuals who've committed brutal criminal acts against other innocent people, and it is a place that nobody would ever want to be -- and some efforts should be made to ensure that truly innocent people don't end up there.

That said, if fear of ending up in CECOT serves to deter even some criminal illegal aliens in the U.S. from committing violence against Americans, and innocent lives are saved because of that deterrence, the controversial cooperative efforts between the U.S. and El Salvador will arguably have been worth it.