Trump’s Utilization of Guantánamo Bay

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Since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second term, he has promoted strong nativist-driven immigration policies and ideals. Just within the first few weeks, he enacted ICE raids, essentially expanding ICE’s jurisdiction by allowing detentions to take place in hospitals, schools, and religious areas—places that were once considered sanctuaries immune from immigration raids. 

He has also begun fortifying the U.S-Mexico border, deploying 1,500 active troops to work with border patrol to monitor the area. However, one of the most shocking policy changes exists in the “reopening” of Guantánamo Bay Detention Center, where immigrants are being held  prior to being deported. The U.S.’s long history of inhumane treatment and detention of people at Guantánamo Bay makes this policy extremely concerning for the U.S.’s commitment to human dignity standards. 

Guantánamo Bay Detention camp, located in southeast Cuba, was created in 2002, post-9/11, to house Muslim migrants who were suspected terrorists. These individuals were typically captured by deployed U.S. forces throughout the Middle East during the war on terror. Initially, the camp began receiving alleged members of Al-Qaeda, who were responsible for the 9/11 attacks, as well as members of the Taliban. However, as time went on, the facility became the focal point of worldwide controversy over the violations of legal rights of the detainees (under the Geneva Convention) and also abuses that were carried out within the prison by U.S. authorities. 

As time went on, hundreds of prisoners were held at the prison without any formal charges or legal means to challenge their unjust detentions. The U.S. government maintained that the detainees were not entitled to basic constitutional protections or procedures since the base was not technically on U.S. territory, also maintaining that the conventions do not apply to “unlawful enemy combatants.” 

In 2006, the Supreme Court declared that the system of military commissions that was being used to select and try prisoners was in violation of the Geneva Convention. In 2008, the Supreme Court overturned the prior decision and ruled that foreign detainees did have the right to challenge their detentions in court. Despite this, detainees still faced a plethora of difficulties, even though they had been granted release. 

In 2009, following the election of Barack Obama, the camp was ordered to shut down within a year. Officials reviewed ways to properly transfer detainees and refined imprisonment techniques so that none could be considered torturous. However, Congress delayed the camp’s closure, and it was ultimately never shut down during Obama’s presidency. 

After Trump’s election in 2016, he signed an executive order to keep the prison open in response to the supposed “softness” of the Obama administration’s handling of terrorism. Once Joe Biden took office in 2020, throughout his term, he brought down its population to 40 from its peak at 800, and also reopened a government office that works to release Guantánamo prisoners. That office has since been closed by the Trump administration. 

Since Trump’s inauguration in late January, he has re-instilled his strict immigration policies, including the reopening of the prison, but now for the use of storing immigrants, which poses new moral and legal problems that were not present before.

In early February, the Trump administration officially began flying out groups of immigrants to Guantánamo Bay to be held before officially being deported, which led to questioning of the legality of the operation. The first group was a handful of Venezuelan immigrants identified by the Department of Homeland Security as belonging to an organized crime group, but this was just the beginning. Trump declared that he wanted to transform the facility to be capable of holding 30,000 immigrants—despite the legal and political pushback he will likely face. Head of the Department of Homeland Security Krisit Noem supports Trump’s expansion efforts, claiming that “Having facilities at Guantánamo Bay will be an asset to us” and “will hold the worst of the worst…people that had warrants out for their arrest on murders and rapes, assaults, gun purchases, drug trafficking.”

The legal implications of these deportations are being heavily questioned. Some experts view them as illegal, maintaining that while immigrants spend time in the U.S., they are entitled to U.S. immigration law—which includes laws over deportation. If Cuba does not consent to take the immigrants, then the deportations are illegal (because Cuba is not U.S. territory). Additionally, the ACLU filed lawsuits against the deportations to Guantánamo, asserting that the U.S. has no legitimate reason to place the immigrants in the facility because the government has ample detention facilities within the U.S. and U.S. territory. 

The conditions in which immigrants are being held are also a concern. A few migrants who have been detained have assembled court testimonies about the conditions in the prison. One detainee gave a statement in which he stated that he was placed in a room that had “cobwebs and a disgusting smell” and was not given access to a mattress. He further claimed that he was only allowed outside twice in two weeks, and was denied phone calls with relatives and family. This is all unfortunately unsurprising, considering the poor conditions that have been reported in the prison during its use as a terrorist holding facility after 9/11. 

The future of the prison and its detainees are unknown, as the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies have not made explicit statements regarding future plans for the prison or released any specific information about the immigrants being held. However, as this ordeal carries on, questions lie on how this will further the moral stain that is already placed on Guantánamo Bay. Questions of legality arise as these migrants are not considered terrorists, bringing forth a new viewpoint on immigration policy and its relation to the prison.  

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This article was edited by Ella Richards and Isabella Valentino.