The Trump government is preparing to kick off the transfer of thousands of aliens illegally present in the United States to the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, starting this week.
As reported by the Washington Post, those affected by this new round of deportations are expected to include those from European nations traditionally allied with the U.S., including Italy, France, Germany, Britain, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Poland, Turkey and Ukraine. In addition, many come from neighboring Haiti.
Preparations include medical screening of 9,000 people to determine if they are healthy enough to be sent to Guantanamo, infamous for having been the prison to house terrorists and other individuals captured on battlefields after 9/11.
It is far from clear whether the facility can accommodate such a large number of detainees, which would represent a huge increase over the several hundred migrants transferred to the base earlier this year.
However, Trump administration officials say the plan is necessary to free up space in domestic detention centers, which are now overcrowded following Trump’s pledge to implement the largest deportation of undocumented migrants in American history. A document reviewed by the Washington Post states that “GTMO,” the government acronym for the base, “has not reached its maximum capacity.”
According to an official document, DHS intends to “minimize” the time detainees spend at the Caribbean base, but the White House may decide to use the facility for long-term detentions.
The decision to drastically expand transfers is expected to draw criticism from U.S. allies concerned about conditions for their citizens at the military base, which has become a global symbol of torture and abuse of detainees in the wake of counterterrorism tactics pursued by Washington DC after the attacks on the Twin Towers.
U.S. officials have said that those being vetted for transfer are in the U.S. illegally. Many of the detainees’ home countries have said they are willing to accept their nationals but, according to DHS, have not moved quickly enough.
The armed forces on the base had earlier this year set up a tent city consisting of 195 structures capable of housing more than 3,000 people, in anticipation of a massive influx of detainees. But this never materialized, as flights in recent months actually carried a modest number of people, and the capacity of the available facilities was not exceeded. Guantanamo staff then dismantled the tents during the spring. Now they may once again be put to use.
