The first flight carrying migrants “with a high threat” to Guantanamo Bay arrived on Tuesday evening, part of the Trump administration Repression of illegal immigration.
The C-17 plane took off from El Paso, Texas, and landed at 7:20 p.m. East time, according to the US transport command.
The 10 people on the flight were suspected of members of the Venezuelan gang, Tren of Aragua, according to the Ministry of Internal Security.
Migrants, however, will not be colocated with existing detainees in Guantanamo Bay, and the application of immigration and customs will have the main custody.
“These 10 people with High Menace are currently accommodated in vacant detention establishments,” the Ministry of Defense said in a statement on Wednesday, calling for the detention of these migrants to Guantanamo Bay a “temporary measure”. “American immigration and customs application take this measure to ensure the safe and safe detention of these people until they can be transported to their country of origin or another appropriate destination.”
President Donald Trump signed a decree On January 29, ordering secretaries of the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Security to “develop the Migrants Center of the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station with full capacity” to accommodate migrants without legal status living in the United States. The migrant operations center is separate from the high security prison installation that has been used to hold al-Qaeda prisoners.
“There is a lot of space to welcome a lot of people”, ” Trump said In the oval office on Tuesday. “So we will use it.
“Migrants are difficult, but we also have bad ones,” he added. “I would like to take them out.
Pressure secretary of the White House, Karoline Leavitt, confirmed that thefts carrying migrants to Guantanamo Bay were underway on Tuesday morning, saying on Fox News: “Trump, Pete Hegseth and Kristi Noem have already delivered this promise to use this ability to Gitmo for illegal criminals that have broken the laws on the immigration of our country and Heinahorn crimes against harlomarous crimes against legal American citizens here. “
Migrants are loaded on a military plane for a flight to Guantanamo Bay, El Paso, TX., February 4, 2025.
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While Trump said the United States would endeavor to prepare the base to hold 30,000 migrants awaiting treatment to return to their country of origin, defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, said on Monday that Guantanamo Bay The high security prison installation could be sheltered The “worst” criminals are expelled.
“Where are you going to put Tren of Aragua before sending them back all the way?” Hegseth asked. “How about a maximum security prison in Guantanamo Bay, where we have space?”
He called the base “the ideal place to provide for migrants who travel from our country”, including for “hardened criminals”.
“The president @realdonaldtrump was very clear: Guantanamo Bay will hold the worst. Published Tuesday. We do not know what charges migrants on the plane.
“A regular procedure will be followed, and having installations in Guantánamo Bay will be an asset for us and the fact that we will have the ability to continue to do what we have always done. We have always had a presence of illegal immigrants there that have been detained – we are not strengthening a certain capacity,” Noem told NBC News on Sunday. “We appreciate the DOD partnership to get this at the level where it must happen in order to facilitate this repatriation of people in their country.”
She added that it was “not the plan” that migrants remain indefinitely in Guantanamo Bay.
Migrants are loaded on a military plane for a flight to Guantanamo Bay, El Paso, TX., February 4, 2025.
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A photo published by the Ministry of Internal Security of the first flight of migrants which was part of Tren of Aragua, preparing for takeoff for Guantanamo Bay, on February 4, 2025.
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On Monday, there were approximately 300 members of the service supporting immigrant detention operations at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, according to US Southern Command. US officials told ABC News that up to 200 additional navies should arrive in waves.
The Ministry of Defense said that the troops were in Guantanamo Bay “to prepare to extend the migrant operations center” to temporarily house up to 30,000 migrants, separated from the maximum security prison.
“While we identify the illegal criminals in our country, the soldiers lean forward to help move them to their country of origin or someone else in the meantime,” said Hegseth on January 31. “Now, if … they can’t go somewhere right away, they can go to Guantanamo Bay.”
Migrants are loaded on a military plane for a flight to Guantanamo Bay, El Paso, TX., February 4, 2025.
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Karen Greenberg, director of the Center on National Security at the Fordham University School of Law, said to Phil Lipof d’ABC News On January 29, that a “big challenge” to hold the migrants to Guantanamo Bay was the large number that Trump suggested.
“I do not know they have the capacity of this,” said Greenberg, who noted that “in ancient times and in the 90s, I think they held 21,000”.
Migrants are loaded on a military plane for a flight to Guantanamo Bay, El Paso, TX., February 4, 2025.
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A photo published by the Ministry of Internal Security of the first flight of migrants which was part of Tren of Aragua, preparing for takeoff for Guantanamo Bay, on February 4, 2025.
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She added that the base has long held refugees and migrants, including in Biden administration, although in much smaller numbers, and has generally been used for those who intercept at sea rather than holding advanced migrants from the continent
However, Greenberg noted that the relationships of those who have spent time in Guantanamo Bay are “not good”.
“There was a report published in September by the International refugee assistance projectWho has somewhat detailed the conditions under which migrants are currently held in Guantanamo, which included unsanitary conditions, ill-treatment, not to mention this type of blurred legal status, “she said.
Luke Barr of ABC News contributed to this report.
