Kristi Noem caused outrage among liberals when she wore an expensive wristwatch while condemning criminals at a prison in El Salvador where the Trump administration deported numerous illegal immigrants.
Former South Dakota governor Noem first gained attention during Donald Trump’s presidency for accompanying ICE agents in addressing the border crisis.
She also rode horseback alongside the Border Patrol agents that Joe Biden falsely accused of whipping migrants in a show of support.
Each of those drew the howls of Democrats, who dubbed her ‘ICE Barbie’ for her efforts.
Critics lashed out once more when she toured El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, housing individuals detained by Trump’s administration, including gang members and rapists.
She posted video to social media where she went face-to-face with men believed to be members of the notorious Tren de Aragua gang, who became a focal point of Trump’s border policy.
Online Democrats were furious, as one even complained about the watch Noem was visibly wearing in the video clip.
Patrick Jaicomo asked: ‘Is Secretary Noem wearing a $50,000 gold Rolex Daytona wristwatch while she films a threat to immigrants with due-process free rendition to a third-world prison?’
Several liberals were horrified by the overall content of the clip.
‘This is the sickest s*** i have ever seen in my life oh my god,’ wrote Tim Miller of The Bulwark.
James Surowiecki wondered: ‘No one has yet explained what legal authority allows Trump to send undocumented migrants who have been convicted of no crime to rot in a prison in El Salvador. He has the authority to deport them. But how is it legal for him to imprison them in a foreign country?
‘This is f***ing disgusting. You are a fascist psychopath who has no business in this job. Sick,’ wrote Jim Stewartson.
The MAGA faithful backed Noem for the video.
‘Y’all criticize her but I actually like Deportation Barbie,’ wrote one.
Fox News journalist Griff Jenkins contrasted Noem with former ‘border czar’ Kamala Harris.
‘This just feels different than Kamala Harris’ “do not come” warning from Guatemala,’ he said.
The gang members are all shirtless and have shaved heads, wearing only white pants while packed into their cells.
After touring the building with Salvadoran Minister of Justice Hector Gustavo, Noem had a message for any would be followers who wanted to cause havoc while in America illegally.
‘First of all, do not come to our country illegally: You will be removed, and you will be prosecuted,’ she said
‘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.’
Afterward, Noem met with Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador.
She posted a similar message to X: ‘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 Trump administration sent 261 illegal migrants to El Salvador on March 15, Fox News reported.
At least 21 of them were members of MS-13, including two ring-leaders. It is not clear how many members of Tren de Aragua were among them.
Their deportation has started a massive legal controversy involving a district court judge trying to stop the Trump administration.
The decision by Judge James Boasberg came just hours after Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 in an ambitious plan to crack down on members of Tren de Aragua.
Trump said the US was facing an ‘invasion’ from a criminal organization that has been linked to kidnapping, extortion, organized crime and contract killings.
Boasberg, who was appointed by President Obama, issued a temporary restraining order for 14 days.
The judge said the Alien Enemies Act ‘does not provide a basis for the president’s proclamation given that the terms invasion, predatory incursion really relate to hostile acts perpetrated by any nation and commensurate to war.’
Boasberg also said that he needed to issue his order immediately because the government already was flying migrants it claimed were newly deportable under Trump’s proclamation to be incarcerated in El Salvador and Honduras.
El Salvador already agreed to take up to 300 migrants that the Trump administration designated as gang members.
In invoking the act, Trump declared Tren de Aragua as targets, contending it is a hostile force noting members of the gang were ‘conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States’ with the goal of destabilizing the nation.
The gang has been linked to kidnapping, extortion, organized crime and contract killings.
DailyMail.com was the first news organization in the US to report on TdA arriving in America over a year ago, however, the gang became a household name after video of them storming an apartment near Denver surfaced in August.
The sweeping wartime authority allows the president broader leeway on policy and executive action and will enable him to speed up mass deportations of people and pushes his promised crackdown on immigration into higher gear.
‘This proclamation is as lawless as anything the Trump administration has done,’ Lee Gelernt, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, who argued for the order in a hearing on Saturday said in an interview.
‘We are on very dangerous ground when the administration is going to try to use wartime authority, when we’re at peace, for immigration purposes or any other non-military purpose.’
Attorney General Pam Bondi said Boasberg ‘had supported Tren de Aragua terrorists over the safety of Americans’ in his ruling.
‘This order disregards well-established authority regarding President Trump’s power, and it puts the public and law enforcement at risk,’ she said in a statement.
Trump had pledged to use the Alien Enemies Act during his presidential campaign, and immigration groups were braced for it.
