Trump Plans to Detain 30,000 Migrants at Guantanamo Bay

By Staff, Agencies

US President Donald Trump has announced an expansive directive granting federal authorities the ability to deport up to 30,000 undocumented immigrants with criminal records to a designated detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In a memorandum from the White House, Trump instructed the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security to initiate the process of detaining “criminal migrants” in order to "halt the border invasion, dismantle criminal cartels, and restore national sovereignty."

The administration has clarified that deported migrants will not be held in Guantanamo Bay, a military prison known for holding foreign terrorism suspects and facing significant human rights scrutiny.

Instead, the plan involves utilizing a separate section of the naval station historically employed as a temporary detention site for migrants intercepted at sea, particularly from Haiti, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic.

The plan was revealed during a Fox News broadcast featuring key Trump administration figures, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Hegseth assured migrants that they won't face indefinite detention similar to those in military prisons, where some have been held without formal charges for over two decades.

He described Guantanamo as “a temporary transit” to move illegals out of the US without clarifying what "temporary transit" means regarding its duration.

Trump’s initial announcement indicated that Guantanamo could accommodate 30,000 individuals, emphasizing the facility's potential for “full capacity” expansion.

The speaker expressed concerns about certain migrants, stating they are so bad that countries don't trust them and plan to send them to Guantanamo.

Vince Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, has raised concerns about the facility's conditions and the legality of using Guantanamo for this purpose.

The speaker argued that while the US has the right to deport individuals with specific criminal convictions, it cannot legally detain them in offshore prisons.

Cuba's government was quick to denounce the proposal, accusing the US of engaging in torture and unlawful detention on the country's land which has "occupied."

Havana has denounced the existence of a US naval base on the island ever since Fidel Castro swept to power in 1959.