Guantanamo's new role: Housing deported US migrants
The initial deportation flights of illegal immigrants to the Guantanamo Bay base in Cuba have already commenced, announced White House spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt.
Ultimately, up to 30,000 migrants who have committed serious crimes are to be sent there. "I can also confirm that today the first flights from the United States to Guantanamo Bay with illegal migrants are underway," said Leavitt during an interview with Fox Business television.
"And so President Trump, Pete Hegseth and Kristi Noem are already delivering on this promise to utilize that capacity at Gitmo for illegal criminals who have broken our nation's immigration laws and then have further committed heinous crimes against lawful American citizens here at home," she added. The spokeswoman did not reveal details of the flights or how many immigrants were transported to Cuba.
Immigrants to be in Guantanamo until deportation to their countries
Minister Hegseth announced last week that the operation to expand the detention facility in Guantanamo to accommodate 30,000 migrants has begun. However, he emphasised that they will be held there temporarily until deportation to their countries.
This contradicts earlier statements by President Trump, who justified sending migrants to Guantanamo with the intention of ensuring that they do not return to the USA. "Some of them are so bad, we don’t even trust their countries to hold them because we don’t want them coming back. We’re going to send them to Guantanamo.It’s a tough place to get out of," Trump said during the signing of a memorandum on the matter.
Guantanamo already served as a facility for migrants during Bill Clinton's presidency in the 1990s; at that time, refugees from Haiti and Cuba intercepted while attempting to cross the sea to the USA were sent there.
