As Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem toured a notorious megaprison in El Salvador on Wednesday, she took the opportunity to use the men incarcerated there as a backdrop for her latest video to warn migrants not to enter the United States illegally.
“I also want everybody to know, if you come to our country illegally, this is one of the consequences you could face,” Noem says in the video, standing in front of a cell housing dozens of shirtless, tattooed men. “First of all, do not come to our country illegally. You will be removed and you will be prosecuted.”
I toured the CECOT, El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center.
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) March 26, 2025
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
The facility, known as the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, is a maximum-security prison built by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele that can hold up to 40,000 people. Those incarcerated at CECOT do not have visitation rights, and they are not afforded outdoor recreation time or given access to educational programs. Salvadoran officials have said those serving time in CECOT will never leave the facility.
With virtually no due process, the Trump administration has deported hundreds of Venezuelan migrants it claims are part of the Tren de Aragua gang to El Salvador, where they are incarcerated at CECOT.








