Trump Orders Migrant Detention Center at Guantánamo Bay

U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to expand a detention facility at the U.S. naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to hold up to 30,000 deported immigrants.

The order directs the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security to prepare the facility to detain “the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people.” Trump justified the move by claiming that some individuals are too dangerous to return to their home countries.

The Guantánamo base already houses a little-known migrant detention center, separate from the high-security prison for terrorism suspects. Reports indicate that as of February 2024, four people were being held there under secretive conditions.

Trump announced the plan while signing the Laken Riley Act, which mandates the detention of undocumented immigrants charged with theft-related crimes. The act is named after a Georgia nursing student murdered in 2023 by an undocumented Venezuelan immigrant.

The executive order stated that expanding the Guantánamo facility is part of efforts to “halt the border invasion, dismantle criminal cartels, and restore national sovereignty.” Since returning to office on January 20, Trump has implemented a series of aggressive immigration measures, including declaring a national emergency, deploying troops to the southern border, and suspending refugee resettlement.

Cuba’s government condemned the move, with Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla calling it a “contemptuous” violation of international law. President Miguel Díaz-Canel labeled the plan “an act of brutality.”