First Transfer of Illegal Immigrants to Guantanamo Naval Base, Formerly Used to Detain Terrorists

About 9 to 10 Transferred
Mexico Protests: "We Will Receive Illegal Immigrants Directly"

The Donald Trump administration in the United States has transferred illegal immigrants it arrested for the first time to the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, U.S. officials reported on the 4th (local time).

Yonhap News

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and Reuters, Tricia McCloyflin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, said that a military aircraft departed for the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base carrying about 9 to 10 illegal immigrants who had been detained, describing them as "very dangerous foreign criminals."

The Trump administration has already used military aircraft to send illegal immigrants to Guatemala, Peru, Honduras, and India, but this is the first time illegal immigrants have been sent to the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. The naval base at Guantanamo is a facility for detaining and housing terrorism suspects. The U.S. has primarily detained not only terrorism suspects but also illegal immigrants heading to the U.S. by sea at this location.

Kristi Noem, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, stated, "We will not detain illegal immigrants indefinitely at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and will manage them according to the law."

Hana Plam, the chief officer of the International Refugee Support Project, criticized the move, saying, "These measures lead to rights violations, indefinite detention, and family separations." WSJ also pointed out that the U.S. has a tragic history of illegally detaining various people at Guantanamo to avoid oversight and public scrutiny, and this transfer is no exception.

The Trump administration plans to expand the facility to accommodate up to 30,000 people. Currently, the base has facilities to house 120 people. The number of personnel deployed to the Guantanamo base is also expected to increase. According to a Department of Defense official, about 200 Marines have been deployed to the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in recent days, and this number is expected to rise to 500.

Meanwhile, the Mexican Foreign Minister stated on the same day that the Trump administration would not be allowed to send illegal immigrants from Mexico to the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. Juan Ramon de la Fuente, the Foreign Minister, sent a letter to the U.S. Embassy in his country expressing a preference to receive immigrants directly rather than through the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.