The president of the United States, Donald Trump, plans to appoint the undersecretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Troy Edgar, Kristi Noem’s deputy, as the new ambassador to El Salvador, according to several sources consulted by CBS News.
According to the two sources cited by the US network, the designation would not require new approval from the Senate, so his arrival at the diplomatic legation could take place soon, although for now no start date has been set.
The White House and the DHS declined to comment on the possible designation, while officials consulted highlighted the good working relationship between Edgar and the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem.
El Salvador has acquired a central role in the Trump Administration’s immigration offensive. In March, the president invoked the Foreign Enemies Act, a 19th-century statute of war, to send detained migrants to a maximum security prison in that country, many of them accused by Washington of links to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, even though several had no criminal record.
A report by human rights organizations published in November concluded that the deportation and treatment of more than 200 Venezuelans held in El Salvador constituted arbitrary detention, torture and forced disappearance under international law.
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Edgar’s appointment would come at a time of rapprochement between Washington and San Salvador.
Troy Edgar is the current deputy secretary of DHS and one of the highest-ranking officials in the structure led by Kristi Noem. He was chief financial officer of that department during the final months of Trump’s first term (2017-2021), with responsibility for a budget of $90 billion and supervision of immigration projects and the border wall.
He also served as a private sector executive and mayor of Los Alamitos (California) from 2009 to 2010, from 2012 to 2014 and from 2018 to 2019. In addition, he has been a key figure in the administrative management of DHS and in the implementation of the White House’s security and immigration priorities.
Trump met in April with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, whom conservative American sectors praise for his offensive against gangs.
Additionally, last month both nations reached a framework for reciprocal trade agreements, in parallel with new immigration operations aimed at cities with large immigrant communities.
With information from EFE
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