The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Feb. 12, claiming that the illegal immigrants detained at the naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are being denied several rights.
The ACLU said those rights include detainees’ right to legal counsel and legal counsel of their choice, their Fifth Amendment right to due process, and their First Amendment right to communicate with the outside world. Plaintiffs also argued that by removing access to legal counsel, the government violated the detainees’ right to habeas corpus, which allows them to challenge the legality of the transfer.
The lawsuit demands that the government allow the detainees to access in-person legal counsel on the military base and provide immediate video and telephone communication in the meantime, and that free, timely, and confidential attorney-client meetings, calls, and document exchanges be provided.
Plaintiffs also demand that counsel be given notification of any transfers of illegal immigrants to Guantanamo at least 72 hours prior to the transfer, and award attorneys fees and other litigation costs in line with laws such as the Equal Access to Justice Act.
While three detainees are mentioned by name, the ACLU seeks to secure the demands for all additional illegal immigrant detainees.
Taking action on behalf of three family members of detainees, the ACLU was joined by four different organizations working on behalf of an “unknown number of immigrants detained at Guantanamo”: Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, American Gateways, and Americans for Immigrant Justice.
“For the first time in U.S. history, the federal government has moved noncitizens apprehended and detained in the United States on civil immigration charges to the Naval Station at Guantánamo Bay,” the plaintiffs state, arguing that the government has not offered any legal authority for that transfer.
The defendants named in the suit are the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. State Department. It also names Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem,Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, acting ICE Director Caleb Vitello, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“There is a system for phone utilization to reach lawyers,” a senior DHS official told The Epoch Times in an email.
“We have 30,000 beds in Guantanamo to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people,“ Trump told reporters on Jan. 29. “Some of them are so bad we don’t even trust the countries to hold them because we don’t want them coming back, so we’re going to send them out to Guantanamo.”
The commencement of transfer flights was announced by White House press secretary Karolina Leavitt on Feb. 4. The plan has already faced legal pushback, with a federal court temporarily blocking the possible transfer of three Venezuelan men on Feb. 9.
Represented by the nonprofit Center for Constitutional Rights, the three men already have a pending court case challenging their prolonged detention by ICE in New Mexico.
“At this time, the Court cannot say that without this injunction it would not be jurisdictionally deprived to preside over the original writ of habeas corpus should petitioners be transferred,” District Court for the District of New Mexico stated in its memorandum of opinion. “Thus, an injunction is necessary to achieve the ends of justice entrusted to this Court.”
