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U.S. Will Put “Worst of The Worst” Immigrants In Guantanamo Bay Prison, Trump Says

Crime and Justice News

President Donald Trump, who made the deportation of immigrants a central part of his campaign and presidency, said Wednesday that the U.S. will use a detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to hold the “worst criminal aliens" totaling tens of thousands. “We’re going to send them out to Guantánamo,” Trump said at the signing of the Laken Riley Act. Details of the plan weren’t immediately clear. While the U.S. naval base in Cuba is best known for the suspects brought in after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, it has a small, separate facility, the Migrant Operations Center, that has been used for decades to hold people intercepted trying to illegally reach the U.S. by boat. Most are from Haiti and Cuba. The center takes up a tiny part of the base, includes just a handful of buildings and has nowhere near the capacity to house the 30,000 people Trump said could be sent there. Border czar Tom Homan said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would run the facility. “We’re just going to expand upon that existing migrant center, Homan told reporters.


The Migrant Operations Center operates separately from the military’s detention center and courtrooms for foreigners detained under President George W. Bush during what that administration called its “war on terror.” That facility houses 15 detainees, including accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. That’s down from its peak of nearly 800. A White House statement said that the expanded facility would “provide additional detention space for high-priority criminal aliens unlawfully present in the United States, and to address attendant immigration enforcement needs.” An administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said it would be used to house “dangerous criminals” and people who are “hard to deport.” While immigrants are regularly charged with committing major crimes, those people involved with criminal activity are a tiny percentage of the overall immigrant population.

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A daily report co-sponsored by Arizona State University, Criminal Justice Journalists, and the National Criminal Justice Association

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