'High threat' undocumented migrants sent to Guantanamo

PENTAGON — 

A tiny fig of migrants were transferred from Texas to a detention installation successful Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, connected Tuesday via U.S. subject aircraft, U.S. defence officials told VOA.

Fewer than 20 migrants, which the medication has deemed to beryllium "high threat," are being transported connected the archetypal C-17 formation from Fort Bliss, 1 defence authoritative said, speaking to VOA connected background, a method often utilized by U.S. officials to stay anonymous, earlier the formation landed successful Cuba.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem connected Tuesday posted photos connected X of immoderate of the migrants arsenic they prepared to committee the subject cargo plane, calling them “the worst of the worst,” and informing the effort to deport them is conscionable getting started.

The Department of Homeland Security aboriginal said each of the migrants connected the subject formation from Texas to Guantanamo Bay were members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan thoroughfare pack with transnational reach. Officials did not accidental erstwhile oregon however they were archetypal taken into custody.

The White House has announced plans to designate Tren de Aragua arsenic a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

Since President Donald Trump's enforcement bid past month, the Pentagon has deployed 300 Marines to Guantanamo to grow the facilities to enactment holding operations for undocumented immigrants. According to media reports, they person acceptable up tents to location the migrants wrong a fenced country astatine a abstracted portion of the naval base. Those facilities are not yet acceptable for migrants, according to Fox News.

"The fig of work members volition proceed to fluctuate arsenic further forces are tasked to deploy and volition beryllium scaled, based connected the requirements of the Department of Homeland Security, which is the pb national agency," U.S. Southern Command, which overseas operations successful South America, Central America and the Caribbean, announced successful a connection connected Monday.

The migrants who arrived Tuesday volition beryllium held astatine the U.S. detention facility, according to a U.S. authoritative who spoke connected background. The installation is known mostly for lodging subject prisoners and panic suspects, including those progressive successful the September 11, 2001, attacks and members of the Taliban.

"If you're a convulsive pack banger, and you've been taken retired of our country, and we're waiting to bring you to your country, we're going to enactment you successful a compartment container built for al-Qaida," Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told Fox News this week.

In his enforcement bid past month, Trump instructed the departments of Defense and Homeland Security to hole the U.S. naval basal to clasp up to 30,000 migrants.

"Some of them are truthful atrocious we don't adjacent spot the countries to clasp them due to the fact that we don't privation them coming back. So, we're going to nonstop them retired to Guantanamo," Trump said.

Closing Guantanamo

Democratic administrations nether Barack Obama and Joe Biden had sought to adjacent the detention camp, which was built by the George W. Bush medication successful 2002 pursuing the U.S. penetration of Afghanistan that began soon aft the 9/11 attacks of 2001.

Sue Hendrickson, president and CEO of Human Rights First, said successful a connection that sending migrants to Guantanamo would make a quality rights catastrophe.

"The Trump medication whitethorn find the symbolism of sending migrants to Guantanamo darkly appealing; its applicable effect would beryllium much injustice, discarded and self-inflicted nonaccomplishment of credibility," Hendrickson said.

At its tallness during the Global War connected Terror, the detention installation held astir 680 prisoners. As of January 6, determination were conscionable 15 detainees astatine the facility, according to the Pentagon.

Before being utilized to detain panic suspects, the U.S. naval installation was besides utilized to location migrants from Cuba and Haiti successful the aboriginal 1990s.