Trump to ramp up transfers to Guantánamo, including citizens of allies
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
Trump preparing to send thousands of immigrants including Europeans to Guantanamo military prison: reports
Donald Trump’s administration is reportedly preparing to send thousands of illegal immigrants to the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as soon as this week. Immigration officials are considering whether to transfer as many as 9,000 foreign nationals, including people from the United Kingdom as well as Ireland, Italy, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Poland, Turkey and Ukraine. The naval base is expected to temporarily detain deportees before they’re removed to their home countries in an effort to free up bed space at immigration detention facilities on American soil. Most European allies accept deportees from the U.S., making it unclear why the Trump administration would first force them into a detention camp roundly condemned by international human rights groups. A recent lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union suggests roughly 70 immigrants are currently detained at the facility, where they face “punitive” conditions.
Immigration officials are considering whether to transfer as many as 9,000 foreign nationals, including people from the United Kingdom as well as Ireland, Italy, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Poland, Turkey and Ukraine, according to reporting from The Washington Post and Politico.
Officials are not expected to inform their home countries about their imminent transfers to the notorious facility, which opened in 2002 at the height of the War on Terror.
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Most European allies accept deportees from the United States to their home countries, making it unclear why the Trump administration would first force them into a detention camp roundly condemned by international human rights groups.
The naval base is expected to temporarily detain deportees before they’re removed to their home countries in an effort to free up bed space at immigration detention facilities on American soil.
A Department of Defense spokesperson did not provide any comment. The Independent has also requested comment from Homeland Security.
The Trump administration is expected to ramp up use of the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to detain immigrants before deporting them from the United States (via REUTERS)
In January, the president said as many as 30,000 immigrants could be imprisoned inside tents and camps at the naval base, though the tents were removed in recent weeks as the number of deportation flights to the facility fell and the prison didn’t reach capacity.
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Dozens of Venezuelan detainees were initially held there before the administration abruptly emptied the facility in February following a lawsuit from civil rights groups. Roughly 300 immigrants in the country illegally were imprisoned there within the first few months of his administration.
A recent lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union suggests roughly 70 immigrants are currently detained at the facility, where they face “punitive” conditions, rodent infestations, insufficient food, a lack of clean clothes, and only one hour of relief from their “indoor cage.”
“In effect, the government is perversely utilizing Guantanamo’s well-known history as a site of abuse and mistreatment, including as the location of two former CIA ‘black sites,’ to frighten immigrants,” according to the lawsuit.
Use of the facility exceeds $100,000 per day per detainee, according to Sen. Gary Peters, the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security committee.
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Guantanamo’s drastically expanded use would follow pressure from top Trump administration officials to boost immigration arrests after falling short of the president’s campaign ambitions for the “largest mass deportation operation in American history.”
Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have repeatedly defended use of the facility to jail suspected Tren de Aragua gang members and “the worst of the worst and illegal criminals,” according to Noem.
But the administration has also detained “lower-threat” immigrants at the facility who were in the United States illegally but have never been charged or convicted of violent offenses or other serious crimes, according to federal guidelines.
“We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: Sending anyone to Guantanamo is a profoundly cruel move and yet another effort by the Trump administration to deny due process and circumvent both U.S. and international law,” Amnesty International said in a statement.
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“Gitmo should be shut down now and forever,” the group added.
The potential escalation follows the president’s deployment of National Guard service members and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles to crush protests against the administration’s anti-immigration agenda.
Trump to Expel Thousands of Migrants to Guantanamo This Week
President Donald Trump is planning to deport up to 9,000 migrants to Guantanamo Bay beginning Wednesday. The move is a 1,700 percent increase from the number held in the military prison over the last few months. The use of the facility costs around $100,000 per day per detainee, far more than the $165 per day in most U.S. immigration facilities. The administration’s reasoning for using Gitmo, long known as an “island outside the law,” was to free up bed space at detention facilities within the United States. Critics have long raised questions about the center’s conditions: internal government reports have shown that the camp is filled with overflowing toilets and rats. Around 800 Europeans are being prepped for the transfer, and 100 Romanians and 170 Russians are being considered for transfer. The president has also deployed 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles to quell ICE protests in the midst of his mass immigration crackdown, a move harshly criticized by California officials as “purposefully inflammatory”
The major escalation comes as the president accelerates his mass immigration crackdown and deploys both the Marines and the National Guard to Los Angeles to quell ICE protests.
President Donald Trump’s goal is to hold up to 30,000 migrants in Guantanamo Bay’s prison. BENJAMIN HANSON/Benjamin Hanson/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty
Trump’s move to deport 9,000 more people will be another step in fulfilling his goal of locking up 30,000 migrants in the facility, Politico reported Tuesday. ADVERTISEMENT
Since February, about 500 migrants have been held at the base for short periods. Now, thousands more are being vetted for transfer.
The use of the facility costs around $100,000 per day per detainee, far more than the $165 per day in most U.S. immigration facilities. The extra 9,000 migrants would mean that the administration could cough up almost one billion dollars every day that they are there.
Guantanamo Bay is a notorious prison that’s long been linked with the abuse and torture of inmates. Many prisoners have been held there indefinitely, often without charge and trial. In January, Trump claimed that he would transform facilities inside the naval base for only “high-priority criminal aliens.”
Venezuelan migrants were deported by Trump to their home country after a stay at Guantanamo in February. Getty Images/Getty Images
He said at the time that 30,000 beds were being prepared to detain “the worst criminal aliens threatening America.”
“That’s a tough place to get out of,” he added.
But in March, the administration broadened the criteria in order to deport non-criminal detainees.
Those deported starting Wednesday will likely be at the facility temporarily before being deported back to their home countries. The administration’s reasoning for using Gitmo, long known as an “island outside the law,” was to free up bed space at detention facilities within the United States.
President Donald Trump has deployed 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles, a move harshly criticized by California officials as “purposefully inflammatory.” DAVID PASHAEE/David Pashaee/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty
As of Jan. 29, when Trump first made the threat, the jail held only 15 inmates. Only 37 total migrants were held there between 2020 and 2023.
Critics have long raised questions about the center’s conditions: internal government reports have shown that the camp is filled with overflowing toilets and rats. Inmates are often blindfolded while being moved around the facility.
In 2023 AP News reported that the men held there are subject to “ongoing cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment under international law,” according to the first U.N. independent investigator to visit. She cited that the inmates at the time were under near constant surveillance and subject to the unjust use of restraints. Many had never been charged with a single crime.
President Donald Trump plans to send as many as 9,000 migrants to Guantanamo Bay starting Wednesday. PEDRO MATTEY/Pedro Mattey/AFP via Getty Images
A federal pending class-action lawsuit against the administration notes that the roughly 70 detainees currently there are facing “punitive conditions,” including insufficient food and unsanitary circumstances. The case is pending before a Trump-appointed judge, Carl Nichols.
“The government has identified no legitimate purpose that is served by holding immigrant detainees at Guantanamo, rather than at detention facilities inside the United States,” ACLU attorneys note. “Instead, defendants are using the threat of detention at Guantanamo to frighten immigrants, deter future migration, induce self-deportation, and coerce people in detention to give up claims against removal and accept deportation elsewhere.”
Nationwide protests have erupted against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in the midst of President Donald Trump’s mass immigration crackdown. Anadolu/Anadolu via Getty Images
Of the 9,000 migrants that are being prepped for Guantanamo, around 800 are Europeans. One Austrian, 100 Romanians, and 170 Russians are being considered for the transfer.
U.S. diplomats have expressed concern over the hasty decision to send the Europeans to Guantanamo, reported Politico, especially since most European countries are U.S. allies and would typically take the migrants back without any fuss. State Department officials are urging Department of Homeland Security (DHS) leaders to change their minds.
“The message is to shock and horrify people, to upset people,” one staffer told Politico. “But we’re allies.”
Stephen Miller is the architect of some of Trump’s harshest immigration policies. Chip Somodevilla/Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Trump’s plot to increase deportations comes as senior policy adviser Stephen Miller calls for as many as 3,000 arrests a day. Miller has been the architect of some of Trump’s harshest immigration policies, and he instituted a family-separation policy during Trump’s first term that split 3,000 children from their parents and was only stopped after Ivanka Trump herself told her dad to end it.
About 11 million undocumented immigrants call the country home. Since Trump took office, ICE has pushed Congress for more funding to hire additional agents and expand detention capacity.