US President Donald Trump signed a memorandum on Thursday (30 January) instructing the US federal government to expand detention facilities at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba to accommodate tens of thousands of migrants.
The directive calls on the Departments of Defence and Homeland Security to increase capacity at the facility for what the administration terms “high-priority criminal aliens unlawfully present in the United States”, reports the CNN.
“Most people don’t even know about it. We have 30,000 beds in Guantanamo to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people. This will double our capacity immediately,” Trump said from the White House before signing the Laken Riley Act, a key legislative victory of his second term.
The act mandates the detention of undocumented migrants charged with specific crimes and was passed earlier this month with bipartisan support.
Following Trump’s announcement, senior immigration officials confirmed that the expansion would be managed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Tom Homan, termed as the administration’s border czar, stated that the initiative would build upon existing migrant detention centres.
“We’re just going to expand upon existing migrant centres,” he said, adding that oversight would be conducted from ICE’s Miami-based operations.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem suggested that the Guantanamo facility would be used for what she described as “the worst of the worst.”
“There might be some resources that could be established for the worst of the worst at Guantanamo Bay, and that’s something that he is evaluating along with our team at the Department of Homeland Security.”
Guantanamo Bay is widely known for its detention camp housing terrorism suspects, but it also hosts a separate migrant-processing centre.
Biden administration had previously explored using that centre for Haitian migrants fleeing worsening conditions last year, while in 2010, the site was prepared to accommodate those displaced by Haiti’s devastating earthquake.
However, an unnamed US official told CNN that the facilities at Guantanamo Bay are far from ready to house 30,000 detainees.
“There’s no way there’s 30,000 beds anymore,” the official said, explaining that while such capacity existed in the 1990s, it no longer does.
The official further noted that accommodating such numbers would necessitate a significant increase in military personnel.
Cuban government strongly condemned the move, with President Miguel Díaz-Canel calling it an “act of brutality.”
Posting on X, he stated: “In an act of brutality, the new US government announces the imprisonment at the Guantanamo Naval Base, located in illegally occupied Cuban territory, of thousands of migrants that it forcibly expels, and will place them next to the well-known prisons of torture and illegal detention.”
Trump’s directive has reignited debate over the use of Guantanamo Bay for migrant detention, with critics questioning both the legal and humanitarian implications of the move.