Thursday February 6, 2025

In this April 17, 2019, photo, reviewed by U.S. military officials, the control tower is seen through the razor wire inside the Camp VI detention facility in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base Cuba

Mogadishu (HOL) — The first U.S. military flight deporting migrants to Guantánamo Bay landed Tuesday evening, marking the start of a controversial plan by the Trump administration to use the naval base as a detention center for up to 30,000 migrants. Among those at risk of detention are over 4,000 Somalis facing deportation under Trump’s latest crackdown on immigration, sparking fears of indefinite detention and legal limbo.

The move has drawn widespread criticism from human rights groups and legal experts, who warn it could lead to human rights abuses reminiscent of past crises on the island.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has publicly supported using Guantánamo Bay as a detention site, described it as a ‘perfect place’ for housing migrants. Additional U.S. troops have reportedly arrived to prepare for the influx.

“Sending immigrants to Guantánamo is a profoundly cruel, costly move,” said Amy Fischer, director of the Refugee and Migrant Rights Program at Amnesty International USA. “It will cut people off from legal representation and support systems, throwing them into a black hole.”

The initial group of 10 immigrants reportedly includes suspected members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang. Sources indicate that these individuals are being held separately within the high-security detention facility alongside terrorism suspects. The administration aims to house others in temporary tent camps before deporting them to their home countries or third-party states.

The decision to use Guantánamo Bay has sparked questions about legal jurisdiction and detainee rights. John Yoo, a former deputy assistant attorney general, cautioned that placing migrants within the detention facility could create legal complications. “We had to navigate similar issues 20 years ago with terrorism suspects, and it’s unclear how this will hold up in court,” Yoo said.

Lawyers from the Department of Homeland Security are still assessing the legal framework for detaining migrants at the base, particularly those without criminal convictions. Existing U.S. court orders prevent immigrants from being held indefinitely in punitive conditions, a factor that could prompt legal challenges.

Guantánamo Bay is no stranger to migrant detention. During the 1990s, tens of thousands of Haitian and Cuban refugees were held in tent camps plagued by poor living conditions. Many were forcibly repatriated despite credible claims of persecution. Human rights advocates fear a repeat of those conditions, especially with reports that the Migrant Operations Center at the base—designed to hold only 200 people—requires significant repairs.

Critics have also pointed to the potential financial burden. Constructing new detention facilities and maintaining operations on the remote island could cost hundreds of millions. “It’s going to be very expensive and logistically challenging,” a former senior ICE official told NBC News, highlighting ongoing budget shortfalls within the agency.

The deportation of nationals from other countries, including Somalis, comes as part of Trump’s bold immigration strategy targeting undocumented immigrants, visa overstayers, and those deemed a threat to public safety. The Somali deportations, however, face unique challenges due to diplomatic and logistical barriers. The Somali government, grappling with internal instability, has often been reluctant to accept deportees, leading to delays and raising concerns about prolonged detentions.

Among the 1,445,549 individuals facing deportation, 4,090 are Somalis—many of whom have exhausted their legal avenues to remain in the U.S. While deportation efforts prioritize those with criminal records, they also include individuals who have committed minor immigration violations, such as overstaying visas or crossing the border unlawfully.

The Somali-American community in Minnesota, the largest in the United States, has been particularly affected by Trump’s immigration policies. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, representing the state’s 5th District, condemned the administration’s actions, describing them as part of a broader anti-Muslim agenda that disproportionately targets Somali families.

Omar, herself a former refugee, highlighted the emotional toll on families awaiting reunification. Many Somali families have been split across continents, with relatives stranded in refugee camps or denied entry due to previous iterations of Trump’s “Muslim ban.”

Despite the challenges, President Trump remains committed to the plan, describing Guantánamo as a strategic location for detaining individuals deemed too dangerous to release. “We can’t trust other countries to hold them,” Trump said. “So we’ll send them to Guantánamo.”