Trump admin removes migrants from Guantanamo Bay

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have removed deported migrants from a facility on the U.S. military base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, where the Trump administration brought them as part of an effort to remove certain immigrants from the U.S.

“ICE Air Operations transported 177 Venezuelan illegal aliens from Guantanamo Bay to Honduras today for pickup by the Venezuelan government, which returned them to their home country,” ICE wrote in a Thursday post on the social platform X confirming reports of transfers.

The Trump administration has aggressively moved to remove individuals who entered the U.S. illegally, setting up agreements with Colombia, Venezuela and El Salvador for those countries to accept deported immigrants.

President Trump signed a memo late last month directing the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security to prepare a 30,000-person migrant facility at Guantánamo Bay, saying it would be used "to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people.”

Guantánamo Bay has been used to house military prisoners, including several involved in the 9/11 attacks, and became infamous for accusations of torture and abuse as the U.S. carried out the war on terrorism. The Biden administration sought to wind down operations there.

The Trump administration began flying migrants to Guantánamo Bay days after the president signed the memo, with the Pentagon saying it flew 10 migrants described as “high-threat individuals” within a week of the directive while Defense Department and Homeland Security officials work to put infrastructure in place.

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