Flights transferring illegal immigrants to the Guantanamo Bay naval facility in Cuba have begun, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced, saying it is a key step in the Trump administration’s commitment to cracking down on illegal immigration and enhancing public safety.
“President Trump, Pete Hegseth, and Kristi Noem are already delivering on this promise to utilize that capacity at Gitmo for illegal criminals who have broken our nation’s immigration laws and then have further committed heinous crimes against lawful American citizens here at home,” Leavitt said.
Trump’s decision to use Guantanamo Bay as part of his broader immigration enforcement effort aligns with his push to strengthen border security and increase deportations—particularly of individuals who have committed crimes beyond unlawful entry into the United States.
“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.”
Trump first proposed using Guantanamo Bay to house illegal immigrants during a Jan. 27 speech at his Doral golf club, suggesting it would be cheaper than detaining them in U.S. prisons.
Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would operate the detention center for illegal immigrants at Guantanamo Bay.
“There’s already a migrant center there. It’s been there for decades. So we’re just going to expand upon the existing migrant center,” Homan said.
The Guantanamo Bay military prison was created in 2002 under President George W. Bush to detain foreign suspects linked to terrorism after the 9/11 attacks.
