On Tuesday, Politico reported that US President Donald Trump’s administration is planning to send thousands of unauthorized immigrants to Guantanamo Bay in a bid to crack down on illegal immigration.
More than 9,000 people are being vetted for transfer and some could be sent to the remote Cuban naval base as early as Wednesday.
Politico reported that about 800 Europeans are being considered for transfer, a potentially worrisome move given the willingness of allied countries to take back any citizens facing deportation.
Mr. Trump signed an order in January ordering the United States to prepare to send “the worst criminal illegal immigrants” to Guantanamo Bay. He said at the time that there was room for 30,000 people.
State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said that those being sent to Guantanamo Bay, which is known for indefinitely imprisoning suspected conspirators of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, would be repatriated.
“It’s nothing new that we’re transferring criminal illegal immigrants to Guantanamo,” she told reporters on Tuesday. “It’s not a final destination. It’s done before they’re sent to their home country.”
Ms. Bruce added that “they’re being removed because they had no legal basis to be in the United States.”
In a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s use of Guantanamo Bay to hold immigrants, the American Civil Liberties Union said the government had no legitimate purpose in doing so.
“Instead, defendants are using the threat of detention at Guantanamo to intimidate immigrants, deter future immigration, induce self-deportation, and force detainees to abandon their claims against removal and accept deportation elsewhere,” the ACLU wrote.
“These are unacceptable justifications for civilian immigration detention.”
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