Trump Orders Creation of Detention Center for 30,000 Immigrants at Guantanamo Bay

Washington:On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he would order the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security to establish a detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for 30,000 immigrants. The facility at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay is already used for holding foreign terrorism suspects in a high-security prison, separate from other detainees.

Trump’s Border Affairs Advisor, Tom Homan, stated that the administration will expand the existing facility, which will be operated by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. The President also revealed plans to sign an executive order directing the Department of Defense and Homeland Security to prepare a detention center at Guantanamo Bay specifically for immigrants.

The center is expected to hold individuals with the most dangerous criminal tendencies who pose a threat to U.S. citizens. Trump emphasized that the facility would be used for immigrants who are deemed so dangerous that the U.S. cannot trust their home countries with their detention, adding, “We don’t want them back, so we are sending them to Guantanamo. This will immediately double our capacity.”

Following this, President Trump signed a memorandum that did not specify the exact number of immigrants but called for “additional detention space” to be included in the expanded facility. Speaking to reporters, Tom Homan clarified that the center would be used for the “worst of the worst” immigrants.

According to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, the administration is working with Congress to secure the necessary funding for the expanded facility.

Guantanamo Bay’s detention center was originally established in 2002 by then-President George W. Bush to hold foreign militants suspected of involvement in terrorism following the 9/11 attacks. Currently, 15 detainees remain in the facility. While both Democratic predecessors of President Trump, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, tried to close Guantanamo, they were only able to reduce the number of detainees. Trump, on the other hand, has committed to keeping the facility open.

Human rights organizations have long opposed Guantanamo due to indefinite detentions and harsh interrogation methods that many consider to be forms of torture. The detention center has become a symbol of the initial excesses of the U.S. war on terror. However, the detention center for immigrants, as announced by President Trump, would be a separate facility.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel condemned Trump’s plan as an “act of barbarism,” while refugee advocacy groups called for the closure of the Guantanamo refugee center and urged Congress to investigate the alleged abuses there.

It is noteworthy that just a day prior, the U.S. military had announced that it would allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain immigrants at Buckley Space Force Base in Colorado. This decision came after over 1,600 active-duty soldiers were deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border, following President Trump’s emergency immigration declaration last week.