The military transferred approximately 15 immigration detainees from Texas to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, designated for deportation, following the clearance of 178 Venezuelans earlier. The new arrivals, classified as “high-threat illegal aliens,” are held in Camp 6, previously used for terrorism-related detainees. The purpose of utilizing Guantánamo for temporary detention before deportation remains unclear. Last week, the U.S. deported 177 Venezuelans to their government after transporting them via military flights. Immigration officials indicated that arrangements for detainee communication with lawyers were established, although a request for advance notice of transfers was denied by the government.
On Sunday, the military transported approximately 15 immigration detainees from Texas to the U.S. base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, introducing a new group of migrants marked for deportation shortly after the base was cleared of its initial group of deportees.
No new migrants had arrived at the base since the Homeland Security Department released 178 Venezuelans on Thursday.
A brief statement did not specify the nationalities of the latest arrivals, nor did it provide exact numbers. However, a government official stated they fell under the category of “high-threat illegal aliens” and were consequently being held in Camp 6, a facility that, until last month, accommodated detainees from the war on terrorism.
Last week, the Trump administration transferred 177 Venezuelan men designated for deportation from Guantánamo to the Venezuelan government at an airstrip in Honduras.
The rationale behind transporting those men to Guantánamo via 13 military flights from El Paso between Feb. 4 and Feb. 17, and subsequently to an air base in Honduras using two chartered U.S. aircraft, remains unclear. On Feb. 10, Venezuela sent one of its commercial flights to El Paso for 190 other Venezuelan nationals the U.S. sought to deport.
Juan E. Agudelo, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official operating out of Miami, stated in a court document on Thursday that the administration is utilizing Guantánamo to “temporarily house aliens before they are removed to their home country or a safe third country.” Mr. Agudelo was unable to estimate the average duration of a migrant’s stay prior to deportation, other than indicating it would be “the time necessary to effectuate the removal orders.”
The transfer that occurred on Sunday was executed without prior notice. The U.S. government declined a request last week from a coalition of civil liberties lawyers asking for 72 hours’ notice before additional individuals in homeland security custody were relocated there.
In a filing, the government mentioned that arrangements had been made for potential deportees at the facility to communicate by phone with their lawyers. Three men who were deported on Thursday had one-hour conversations with attorneys who had filed suits to access the migrants, specifically naming those three individuals.