4 months ago
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Trump medication officials are rapidly moving guardant with President Trump’s directive to crook Guantánamo Bay into a installation that could clasp up to 30,000 migrants who are being deported from the United States.
Since announcing the determination Jan. 29, the Pentagon flew 10 migrants described arsenic “high-threat individuals” to the installation successful Cuba little than a week later, portion Defense Department and Homeland Security officials enactment to enactment the infrastructure successful spot to conscionable the demands of Trump’s order. Officials person been little wide astir the semipermanent prospects of utilizing Guantánamo Bay arsenic a migrant facility.
Here’s what to cognize truthful acold astir the effort.
Trump ordered a 30,000-person facility
The president successful precocious January signed a memo directing the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security to hole a 30,000-person migrant installation astatine Guantánamo Bay, a installation successful Cuba that has been utilized to location subject prisoners, including respective Al Qaeda operatives linked to the 9/11 attacks.
The order did not outline immoderate circumstantial timeline for establishing the facility, but U.S. troops arrived astatine the basal successful caller days to supply enactment with operation of tents adjacent an existing migration detention facility.
“Some of them are truthful atrocious we don’t adjacent spot the countries to clasp them due to the fact that we don’t privation them coming back, truthful we’re going to nonstop them retired to Guantánamo,” Trump said of plans for the expanded migrant facility. “This volition treble our capableness immediately. And tough, it’s a pugnacious spot to get retired of.”
Semafor reported that the Trump medication is successful discussions with Willscot, a institution that specializes successful mobile offices and shipping containers, astir providing impermanent abstraction to clasp migrants astatine Guantánamo.
The bid is the latest measurement successful a government-wide effort enacted by the Trump medication to region definite immigrants from the United States. The White House has touted agreements with Colombia, El Salvador and Venezuela wherever those countries would judge deportees.
Migrants already flown to Guantanamo
The archetypal formation of migrants to Guantánamo Bay took spot this week, with a tiny fig of individuals arriving connected Wednesday.
The Pentagon announced 10 “high-threat amerciable aliens” were sent to the facility. Those individuals are being held successful vacant detention facilities, the Pentagon said, until they tin beryllium transported to their location state oregon different destination.
“The detention of these high-threat amerciable aliens astatine Guantánamo Bay is simply a impermanent measure, and the Department of Defense volition proceed to enactment the Department of Homeland Security and different national agencies successful their efforts to facilitate the removal of the aliens arsenic soon arsenic possible,” the Pentagon said successful a statement.
While different flights to Guantánamo are expected successful the coming weeks, the Pentagon has been utilizing subject craft to deport immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally backmost to their state of origin.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested Guantánamo Bay could beryllium utilized arsenic an interim holding abstraction for migrants portion the U.S. reaches agreements with different countries to process deportees.
Officials won't regularisation retired sending women, children
Trump medication officials person signaled that the migrants who volition beryllium kept astatine Guantánamo are convulsive criminals and azygous men.
But arsenic facilities to clasp thousands of migrants are erected, officials person not ruled retired the anticipation that women and children mightiness extremity up determination astatine immoderate point.
“So retrieve that Guantánamo Bay clearly, by this president, has said that it volition clasp the worst of the worst, that we are going aft those atrocious actors,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said connected NBC. “These are the types of individuals that we are targeting, we're removing from communities, and that could extremity up having a enactment astatine Guantanamo Bay earlier they are returned location to their countries to woody with.”
Pressed aggregate times connected “Meet the Press” whether women, children and families could beryllium held astatine Guantánamo, Noem would not straight answer. Instead, she reiterated the medication was focused connected targeting “the worst of the worst.”
Scrutiny of conditions
Trump critics and watchdog groups are expected to support a adjacent ticker connected the attraction of migrants and the conditions they’re kept successful astatine Guantánamo Bay, fixed the facility’s reputation.
Guantánamo Bay is champion known arsenic a subject basal wherever panic suspects are held. It became infamous for accusations of torture and maltreatment arsenic the U.S. carried retired the warfare connected terrorism. The Biden medication sought to upwind down operations astatine the facility, and determination are 15 prisoners inactive there.
Noem has said the medication intends to travel owed process with migrants astatine Guantánamo truthful that those being held determination would person the aforesaid rights they would if detained successful the United States.
The caput besides said the medication does not program connected holding migrants astatine Guantánamo long-term.
“The program is to person a process that we travel that's laid retired successful instrumentality and marque definite that we're dealing with these individuals appropriately according to what the authorities and the national…law directs,” Noem said. “So we volition enactment with Congress to marque definite that we're addressing our ineligible migration laws and utilizing Guantanamo Bay appropriately. But it is an plus that we person that we afloat mean to utilize.”
Some Democratic lawmakers person argued the usage of specified a notorious installation to location migrants is intended arsenic a scare maneuver arsenic the Trump medication cracks down connected immigration.
“It's each astir scaring and intimidating people,” Sen. Mark Kelly (R-Ariz.) said. “It's the aforesaid happening for Guantanamo Bay. Building a installation determination is due to the fact that it conscionable sounds precise frightening to a batch of folks.”
