White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday confirmed the first flights from the U.S. to Guantánamo Bay carrying migrants lacking permanent legal status were underway.
Trump last week signed a memo directing the departments of Defense and Homeland Security to prepare a 30,000-person migrant hold facility at Guantánamo Bay, an installation in Cuba best known as a military base used to house military prisoners, including several involved in the 9/11 attacks.
The facility for military prisoners 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 at the facility, but there are 15 detainees still there.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has called Guantánamo Bay a “perfect place” to house migrants, and in recent days U.S. troops have arrived at the facility to help prepare it. About 300 service members will support the holding operations at the facility, but those numbers may change.
“Due process will be followed, and having facilities at Guantánamo Bay will be an asset to us,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday on “Meet the Press.”
Noem would not say whether women and children would be kept at Guantánamo Bay.
U.S. military flights also have transported migrants to Ecuador, Guam, Honduras, Peru and in one case India.
Read the full report at TheHill.com.
