America’s most notorious federal prison, a terrorist detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, took center stage for a short period in the early days of President Donald Trump’s first 100 days, when the administration began sending some of the “worst of the worst” criminal illegal aliens there.
Also known as “Gitmo,” Guantánamo is a 45-square-mile high-security naval base in Cuba and houses some of America’s most deadly enemies, including the al-Qaeda terrorists responsible for the 9/11 terror attacks.
In one of the first moves of his second term, Trump authorized the detention of illegal immigrants at the facility shortly after taking office on Jan. 20.
Trump instructed the Pentagon to prepare 30,000 beds at the base to house “criminal illegal aliens” who pose a threat to the American public, adding that putting them there would ensure they would not come back.
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At the time, Trump explained the decision, saying that some criminal migrants “are so bad that we don’t even trust the countries to hold them, because we don’t want them coming back, so we’re going to send ‘em out to Guantánamo.”
The president said the move would bring the U.S. one step closer to “eradicating the scourge” of migrant crime in communities, once and for all.
Then, shortly after the State Department declared 10 migrant gangs – including the Salvadoran MS-13 and Venezuelan Tren de Aragua as well as several Mexican cartels – “foreign terrorist organizations,” the administration began sending migrants through Gitmo, with several hundred passing through the base.
Among those sent to the base were several “high threat” illegal members of Tren de Aragua, which is an international terrorist and criminal group linked to Venezuelan socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro. Tren de Aragua – also known as “TdA” – has a presence in most major American cities and is linked to the high-profile murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley and the seizure of an entire apartment building in Aurora, Colorado.
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The Department of Defense stated that the migrant criminals sent to Gitmo were being housed in vacant detention facilities and that the arrangement was only temporary “until they can be transported to their country of origin or other appropriate destination.”
Illustrating Guantánamo’s importance in the administration’s eyes, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth made Gitmo his first naval installation to visit as secretary. In a social media post, Hegseth called Gitmo “the front lines of the war against America’s southern border.”
Speaking of the troops manning Gitmo, Hegseth said, “These warriors are directly supporting the apprehension and deportation of dangerous illegal aliens.”
However, the administration soon began running into snags, making it difficult to ramp up the naval base’s capacity to accommodate the 30,000 beds that Trump had wanted.
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In early March, Fox News Digital reported that none of the 195 tents set up in Guantánamo Bay had been used to house migrants. According to two U.S. defense officials familiar with the matter, this was due to the tents not meeting ICE standards.
The officials said that the U.S. military was told to set up the tents without clear guidance as to what the standards for holding migrants are, and that the military had not received specific guidelines on what the tents need in order to be certified to hold the migrants. The operation to build more tents was halted in February, just several weeks after it started.
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Despite this, a congressional delegation of Republicans led by House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers visited Gitmo around the same time these difficulties were surfacing.
After the visit, Rep. Abe Hamadeh, R-Ariz., told Fox News Digital that “it is clear that Guantánamo Bay is operational and equipped to conduct these deportations.”
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On March 14, Fox News Digital reported that the 40 remaining illegal migrants being held at Guantánamo Bay had been sent back to the United States to be held in Louisiana. Of those returned to U.S. soil, 23 were “high-threat illegal aliens.”
It is unclear whether the U.S. will again hold migrants at Guantánamo. Representatives for the White House and DHS did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment prior to publication deadline.
Meanwhile, the U.S. has begun partnering with the government of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to send illegal gang members to El Salvador’s “Terrorist Confinement Center” (CECOT). The U.S. has sent several hundred Salvadoran and Venezuelan migrants to CECOT.
Fox News Digital’s Cameron Arcand, Michael Dorgan, Liz Friden, Jennifer Griffin and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
