The Trump administration has abruptly cleared out a second group of migrants it brought to the American military base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, returning to the United States 40 men it had flown there in the past few weeks, The New York Times reports. Though the government has not announced it, officials familiar with the matter said that relocated the men to one or more Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities in Louisiana. The move comes days before a Federal District Court judge in Washington is set to hear a major challenge to aspects of the policy challenging the legality of such transfers., The operation has so far cost $16 million, according to representatives of the Guantánamo migrant detention mission who briefed a congressional delegation during a visit last week.
The men were taken from Guantanamo to an international airport in Alexandria, La. that has become a hub of immigration detention activity. The move of migrants to Louisiana marks the second time the administration has brought people to Guantánamo Bay only to remove them after a few weeks, a costly and time-consuming exercise. In late February, the administration abruptly emptied two detention sites the government had used to hold 177 Venezuelans flown in from the United States, including a military prison building formerly used to hold terrorism detainees. Those migrants were moved on Feb. 20 back to their home government, Venezuela. But court filings by the Army officer in charge described ICE staff observing as U.S. troops conduct use restraint chairs and strip searches on migrants newly brought there as “high-threat illegal aliens.” As of Friday, the court filing said, only 17 migrants were being held in a medium-security facility on Guantanamo, in a dormitory-style building on the other side of the base from the wartime prison, while 23 were in Camp 6.
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