Trump administration empties Guantánamo of migrants, flies all back to US
The Trump administration’s plans to detain migrants in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, hit another roadblock this week after all 40 such individuals held there were sent back to the United States, with no future deportation flights scheduled to the island.
A Defense official confirmed to The Hill Thursday there are “zero” migrants being held at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, including a group of 23 “high threat” individuals held at the detention facility on base and 17 others who were detained at the migrant operations center there.
The official did not say where the men had been moved to, but multiple outlets reported they were transported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) aircraft Tuesday and relocated to one or more of the agency’s facilities in Louisiana.
Further questions were referred to ICE, which did not respond to requests for comment from The Hill. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not comment.
This is the second time the administration has abruptly emptied the detention site, with officials on Feb. 20 removing 177 Venezuelans flown in from the United States, with the men repatriated to the custody of their home government.
And two weeks ago, DHS sent another group of 48 migrants to Louisiana from Guantánamo, The Washington Post reported.
It's unknown if the U.S. government will continue to hold migrants at Guantánamo following costly military flights to the Navy base on Cuba — a plan put forward by President Trump and announced in January.
Trump shortly after taking office ordered the Defense Department and DHS to build tents and set up the naval base to house up to 30,000 migrants before they are deported to their home countries.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the time called it the “perfect spot” to help carry out the administration’s deportation plans and assured the public Guantánamo can “absolutely” accommodate 30,000 people “very rapidly.”
But just under 300 migrants have been detained in Guantánamo since Trump took office, far below the tens of thousands he had trumpeted. His plan was quickly bogged down by logistical and legal hurdles, with confusion over who was leading the effort and what would happen to migrants once they arrived.
In the end, 195 tents were set up at the base but were never used due to not meeting ICE standards requiring they have air conditioning and electricity, and their construction was paused in February.
The Trump administration also faced multiple legal challenges, including a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union over the lack of legal access to migrants at the military installation. A D.C. federal court on Friday is scheduled to hear arguments in that case, as well as a separate suit requesting to block the transfer of 10 migrants detained in the U.S. to Guantánamo.
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