Transfers to US detention facility in Cuba expected to start as soon as this week, reports say
The Trump administration is planning to send up to 9,000 undocumented migrants to the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba as early as this week, the Washington Post and Politico reported Tuesday.
Officials told the news outlets that foreign nationals under consideration for transfer to the facility include migrants from Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Haiti, Ireland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Türkiye and Ukraine.
Since February, the US has held approximately 500 migrants at Guantanamo, but sources with knowledge of the transfer said the facility is being prepared for medical screenings for 9,000 individuals to determine if they are healthy enough to be sent to there.
Guantanamo Bay's notorious history dates back to the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the US, where a large number suspected terrorists were sent after being captured by the US military.
President Donald Trump announced in January that he planned to use the detention facility to transfer undocumented migrants. The transfers could start as soon as Wednesday, with the plan that detainees would be housed at Guantanamo Bay temporarily before being deported to their countries of origin.
The move is part of the president's crackdown on illegal immigration with the push for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids to net more arrests and deportations of undocumented migrants.
"Under President Trump's leadership, we are looking to set a goal of a minimum of 3,000 arrests for ICE every day," White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller told Fox News last month, adding the administration planned to increase those numbers.
The official reason for the transfers is to free up bed space at detention facilities in US mainland states, and documents obtained by Politico and the Washington Post state that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) may not notify the countries of the detained migrants in advance of their transfer to Guantanamo Bay.
A majority of the transfers are from US-friendly and European nations, which has alarmed some US diplomats, and some US State Department officials who work with European issues are reportedly trying to persuade DHS to abandon the plan.
"The message is to shock and horrify people, to upset people," one State Department official told Politico. "But we're allies."
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit aiming to prevent the government from transferring detainees to Guantanamo. That case is still pending.
"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," ACLU attorneys said in a statement.
"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."
