Braxton Taylor
The first migrants to be detained at Guantanamo Bay were set to arrive at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba on a flight Tuesday, according to Pentagon officials.
The 10 migrants were flown to the island from Texas and were set to be held in the same detention facility as suspected terrorists imprisoned over the past two decades during the U.S. Global War on Terrorism, multiple defense officials told Military.com. The officials did not identify the individuals, only describing them as “high-threat” migrants with criminal records, and said they would be separated from the terrorism suspects.
The flight comes just days after a detachment of several hundred troops — including 170 Marines — arrived on the base and, according to multiple officials, set up tents that can accommodate about 1,000 people.
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The mobilizations and use of military resources are just part of a broader effort by President Donald Trump to halt illegal immigration at the southern border but also conduct what he has described as the largest domestic migrant deportation operation in U.S. history.
Last week, Trump announced that “we have 30,000 beds in Guantanamo to detain the worst criminal aliens threatening the American people.” However, that claim appeared to be at odds with the Navy base’s current capacity, though that has not stopped the military from scrambling to respond to the orders of their commander in chief.
The executive order that Trump signed directed that migrants be held at the Migrant Operations Center on the base — a facility that has been used by previous administrations but is set up to hold just over 100 people, not the tens of thousands that Trump has proposed.
Pentagon officials wouldn’t say where the tents that troops set up over the last few days were located on the 45-square-mile installation.
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth foreshadowed the use of not only the migrant facility but the detention camp at the base, saying that Guantanamo Bay is the “perfect place to provide for migrants who are traveling out of our country … but also hardened criminals,” during his trip to the border on Monday.
“How about a maximum security prison at Guantanamo Bay where we have the space?” Hegseth asked.
One defense official said the 10 migrants arriving Tuesday will only be held in the detention facility until space elsewhere on the island is available. However, that facility also has limited space, and two officials told Military.com that it has a little over 100 empty beds at the moment.
The White House and Pentagon have also been mum on who will be detained at Guantanamo or what legal rights they will be afforded. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday in an interview with NBC News that migrants will be given “due process” without elaborating, and she refused to rule out detention of women and children despite being asked multiple times.
One defense official noted that the Pentagon has had no input on the criteria or decisions to classify migrants as “high threat.”
Multiple military officials also told Military.com over the last several days that none of the troops deployed to Guantanamo Bay will be participating in law enforcement or migrant detention duties — that role will fall to the Department of Homeland Security.
Related: Marines, Soldiers Set Up Tents and Cots at Guantanamo Bay for Trump’s Migrant Deportations
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