U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) Kristi Noem will travel to Mexico this week, where she plans to meet with President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo.
The visit to Mexico is part of Kristi Noem’s tour of Latin American countries, including El Salvador and Colombia, to address the issue of migration.
El Salvador will be the first stop on the tour, on Wednesday, March 26. There, Kristi Noem will visit the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), where more than 200 Venezuelan migrants deported by the United States were held. The center alleges they are members of the Tren de Aragua criminal gang, which the Trump administration has designated as terrorists. She will also meet with President Nayib Bukele, who agreed to receive the deportees from the United States for a fee.
On Thursday, Kristi Noem will travel to Colombia, where in addition to meeting with President Gustavo Petro, she will meet with Foreign Minister Laura Sarabia and Defense Secretary Pedro Sánchez.
The meeting follows Petro’s disagreement with Trump over the Colombian president’s refusal to receive planes carrying Colombian deportees, citing mistreatment. After Trump threatened tariffs, Petro relented and decided to receive the deportees.
On Friday, Kristi Noem will be in Mexico, where she will meet with Claudia Sheinbaum and Foreign Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente. The topic: migration, at a time when the flow of migrants attempting to cross into the United States has plummeted.
The three-day trip to Central and South America “underscores the importance of our partner nations in helping to remove violent illegal alien criminals from the United States,” DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
“This week, I’m going to El Salvador. I’ll be at the prison where we sent members of the Tren de Aragua. I’ll meet with the President. And also in Colombia and Mexico to build these relationships so we can continue to remove people who don’t belong in this country,” Kristi Noem confirmed during the Cabinet meeting held today at the White House.
