US President Donald Trump has announced plans to expand detention facilities at the country’s offshore naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to accommodate thousands of deported immigrants.
Trump argued onn Wednesday that some individuals are “so bad, we don’t even trust the countries to hold them, because we don’t want them coming back.”
The initiative was revealed on Wednesday during the signing of the Laken Riley Act, which mandates the detention and potential deportation of undocumented individuals accused of theft and violent crimes, even before conviction.
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“So we’re going to send them out to Guantanamo,” Trump added, calling the facility “a tough place to get out of.”
He declared that he will sign an executive order directing the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to expand and prepare the facilities for new arrivals.
Best known as an extra-legal site for holding terrorism suspects during American’s so-called war on terror, Guantanamo Bay also hosts a separate migrant processing center.
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“Most people don’t even know that we have 30,000 beds in Guantanamo to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people,” Trump stated. He added that the move would “bring us one step closer to eradicating the scourge of migrant crime in our communities once and for all.”
Since his first day back in office, President Trump has enacted a series of executive orders aimed at overhauling the US immigration system. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have been carrying out raids across the country, detaining hundreds of people daily. Targeted cities include Boston, New York, Newark, and San Francisco, with agents focusing on arresting immigrants who had committed crimes after entering the US illegally, according to the agency.
Guantanamo Bay, a US naval base since 1903, was transformed into a detention center in 2002 under President George W. Bush to house suspected terrorists following the September 11 attacks. The facility has long been globally criticized for torture and indefinite detentions without charge or trial. As of January 2025, 15 detainees remain at the site, some of whom have been imprisoned for over two decades without formal charges.
The Cuban government has consistently denounced the presence of the US military base at Guantanamo Bay, calling it a violation of sovereignty and raising concerns over human rights abuses at the detention facility. On his first day in office, Trump reinstated Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, reversing an executive order issued by former President Joe Biden just a week prior.