Deportation flights to Guantanamo reignite immigration debate
The initial deportation flights of undocumented immigrants to the Guantanamo Bay base in Cuba have already commenced, announced White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt.
Up to 30,000 migrants, who have committed serious crimes, are intended to be sent there. "I can also confirm that today the first flights from the United States to Guantanamo Bay with illegal migrants are underway," Leavitt said during an interview with Fox Business.
"And so President Trump, Pete Hegseth and Kristi Noem are already delivering on this promise to utilize that capacity at Gitmo for illegal criminals who have broken our nation's immigration laws and then have further committed heinous crimes against lawful American citizens here at home," she added. The spokesperson did not disclose details of the flights or how many immigrants have been transported to Cuba.
Immigrants are to remain in Guantanamo until deportation to their countries
Minister Hegseth announced last week that the operation to expand the detention centre in Guantanamo to accommodate 30,000 migrants has begun. However, he emphasized that they will be held there temporarily until deportation to their countries.
This contradicted earlier statements by President Trump, who justified the need to send migrants to Guantanamo by wanting to ensure they do not return to the USA. "Some of them are so bad, we don’t even trust their countries to hold them because we don’t want them coming back. We’re going to send them to Guantanamo.It’s a tough place to get out of," Trump said while signing the memorandum on this matter.
Guantanamo previously served as a facility for migrants during Bill Clinton's presidency in the 1990s, though at that time, it was used for refugees from Haiti and Cuba intercepted while attempting to cross the sea to the USA.
