US to detain ‘worst criminal aliens’ at Guantanamo Bay, says Trump

Guantanamo Bay’s role in immigration detention

Guantanamo Bay, widely known as “Gitmo,” has been used to house terrorism suspects since the September 11, 2001, attacks, but it also has a small, separate facility known as the Migrant Operations Centre. This centre has historically held migrants intercepted while attempting to enter the US by boat, primarily from Haiti and Cuba.

The facility occupies only a small part of the base and currently lacks the capacity to house the 30,000 detainees, Trump suggested. Homan indicated that the administration plans to expand the existing centre to accommodate additional detainees.

A building in Cuba carries the Spanish message ‘Republic of Cuba. Free American Territory,’ behind a gate marking the border with the US Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba. (AP photo)

Who will be held at Guantanamo?

According to administration officials, the expanded detention facility will house the “worst of the worst.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Homan both used that phrase while speaking to reporters outside the White House. A White House statement clarified that the facility would provide additional detention space for “high-priority criminal aliens unlawfully present in the United States.”

An anonymous administration official told reporters that the facility would detain “dangerous criminals” and individuals who are “hard to deport.” Some countries refuse to accept deported individuals, complicating removal efforts.

Story continues below this ad

What are the conditions at the centre?

The International Refugee Assistance Project described the existing migrant centre as maintaining “prison-like” conditions where detainees are “trapped in a punitive system” with little oversight. Deepa Alagesan, a senior supervising attorney at the organisation, estimated that only a few dozen people are currently held at the centre and expressed concern about expanding its capacity.

“It’s definitely a scary prospect,” Alagesan said.

A US soldier stands between two cells, one used as a library and the other a gym, inside the Camp VI detention facility at the Guantanamo Bay US naval base in Cuba. (AP photo)

Challenges in immigration detention

Trump has pledged to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, but the current ICE budget allows for the detention of only about 41,000 people at any given time. ICE primarily relies on processing centres, private detention facilities, and local jails, and lacks dedicated facilities for detaining families, who constitute a significant portion of arrivals at the southern US border.

Military bases have historically been used for immigration detention, including under the Obama and Trump administrations, to house migrant children and asylum seekers.

Also Read: | Pop icon Selena Gomez breaks down over Trump’s immigration crackdown: ‘My people are getting attacked’

Legal advocacy groups condemned the move, with the New York-based Centre for Constitutional Rights stating that sending immigrants to Guantanamo “should horrify us all.” Executive Director Vince Warren argued that the order frames migrants as “the new terrorist threat” and isolates them from legal protections.

Story continues below this ad

Cuban officials also criticised the decision. President Miguel Díaz-Canel called it “an act of brutality” on X, and labelled the base as being “located in illegally occupied” Cuban territory. Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said the move “shows contempt for the human condition and international law.”

(With inputs from AP)