SAN SALVADOR: US President Donald Trump`s homeland security chief on Wednesday visited the mega-prison in El Salvador where hundreds of Venezuelan migrants have been deportedundercontestedlegalgrounds.

Standing in front of a cell of inmates who were stripped to the waist, revealing their tattooed torsos, Kristi Noem recorded a message telling others that they risked the same consequences. `Do not come to our country illegally. You will be removed and you will be prosecuted, she said at the maximum security Terrorism Confinement Centre (CECOT).

`Know that this facility is one of the tools in our toolkit that we will use if you commit crimes against the American people.` Trump invoked rarely used US wartime legislation in mid-March tobypass traditional deportation procedures and quickly flew 238 Venezuelans to El Salvador.

Washington accused them of all belonging to the Tren de Aragua criminal gang, which it has designated a `terrorist` organisation, but relatives and lawyers for several of the migrants say they have no connection to the group.

The deportations took place despite a US federal judge, on the same day, ordering a temporary halt.

The Trump administration subsequently appealed the halt, but a threejudge panel ruled on Wednesday that it can remain in effect. On Monday, a law firm hired by Caracas filed a habeas corpus petition, demanding justification be provided for the migrants` continued detention.-AFP