First Flights of Detained ‘Criminal Illegal Aliens’ Arrive at Guantanamo Bay
The federal government has begun flying detained illegal immigrants to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, following President Donald Trump’s directive to prepare the detention facility to hold up to 30,000 “criminal illegal aliens.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the development on Tuesday.
“I can also confirm that today the first flights from the United States to Guantanamo Bay with illegal migrants are underway,” Leavitt told reporters. “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.”
Multiple reports have confirmed that a flight carrying about a dozen migrants departed from Fort Bliss to Guantanamo, while another flight left on Monday.
Guantanamo Bay, originally established to detain terror suspects following the September 11 attacks, currently houses figures such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind behind the attacks. However, the detained migrants will be held in a separate facility from existing detainees.
Fox News reported that approximately 150 Marines at the naval station have set up tents for around 1,000 migrants. However, current preparations fall short of the 30,000 detainees Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have said the facility will eventually hold. At present, Guantanamo has enough beds for only 144 migrants.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stated that the facility is already detaining the most dangerous illegal immigrants who have committed serious crimes. She assured that her department will allocate the necessary resources to remove criminal illegal aliens from the United States.
Last week, Trump signed a memorandum to begin expanding Guantanamo’s capacity, emphasizing the need to prevent dangerous individuals from reentering the US.
“Some of them are so bad, we don’t even trust their countries to hold them because we don’t want them coming back,” Trump said. “We’re going to send them to Guantanamo.”
“It’s a tough place to get out of,” he added.
