U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem on Wednesday visited the mega prison in El Salvador which the U.S. is paying to incarcerate 238 alleged Venezuelan gang members deported from the U.S.
The former South Dakota governor posed in front of a large holding cell with dozens of bare chested, head-shorn prisoners behind her and warned those seeking entry to the United States: “This facility is one of the tools in our toolkit that we will use if you commit crimes against the American people.”
Secretary Noem toured CECOT where Tren De Aragua terrorist gang members are being held. We are grateful for El Salvador’s unprecedented partnership to help remove violent criminals from America’s streets.
Our message to illegal aliens is clear: LEAVE NOW. If you don’t we will… pic.twitter.com/WL0PqqBI65
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) March 27, 2025
Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, responded to the video on X by writing: “I’m not going to share the Noem video. But it is a case study in the sort of dehumanization and bigotry that has led to even worse horrors throughout history. We should all be ashamed that this is being done in our name.”
I’m not going to share the Noem video. But it is a case study in the sort of dehumanization and bigotry that has led to even worse horrors throughout history. We should all be ashamed that this is being done in our name.
— Amy Spitalnick (@amyspitalnick) March 27, 2025
MAGA supporters disagree with Spitalnick’s opinion of Noem’s video and are leaving comments including “This is what America wants. It never would have happened if the people that hate America had followed the law and protected our borders.” And “We’re not ashamed at all! We’re proud that we finally have leaders who protect Americans.”
Note: Spitalnick previously served as Executive Director of Integrity First for America, “which won its groundbreaking lawsuit against the neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and hate groups responsible for the Charlottesville violence,” which occurred in August 2017 during the first Trump administration.
In April 2024, while campaigning against President Joe Biden (who said seeing the neo-Nazis at the Charlottesville rally was one of the reasons why he ran for POTUS), Trump compared the Charlottesville rally to pro-Palestinian protests on U.S. campuses.
Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Joe Biden would say, constantly, that he ran because of Charlottesville. Well, if that’s the case, he’s done a really terrible job because Charlottesville is like a ‘peanut’ compared to the riots and anti-Israel protests that are happening all over our Country, RIGHT NOW.”
Spitalnick, a Tufts University graduate, wrote this week about the State Department’s arrests — including at her alma mater — of students involved in the demonstrations on campuses last year: “Antisemitism is real. AND continuing to exploit the Jewish community’s legitimate fears and concerns to undermine civil liberties, the rule of law, and democratic norms & institutions makes all of us — Jews included — less safe.”
We’ll keep saying it:
Antisemitism is real. AND continuing to exploit the Jewish community’s legitimate fears and concerns to undermine civil liberties, the rule of law, and democratic norms & institutions makes all of us — Jews included — less safe. https://t.co/EVWCe3K5wH https://t.co/2IM0WycMUS
— Amy Spitalnick (@amyspitalnick) March 25, 2025