People need to see that image,” Noem said of the striking photos of her surrounded by rows of tattooed inmates crammed inside their cells at El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center.

Noem toured crowded cells, the prison armory, and isolation units within the facility, which has drawn international attention.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump used the Alien Enemies Act to deport 238 Venezuelans from the United States—sending them not to their home country, but to a prison in El Salvador notorious for its harsh conditions.

Kristi Noem appeared in a video in front of CECOT prisoners in El Salvador wearing a $50k Rolex watch. Human rights groups raised criticized the move.

When asked by The Associated Press whether detainees could be indefinitely held in El Salvador's CECOT prison, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem declined to clarify