In 1903, the United States looked to expand their naval base and leased parts of land in Cuba to maintain its ships. This land is called Guantanamo Bay. Located in Southeast Cuba, Guantanamo Bay serves as a military base and training facility, but most notably it holds suspected terrorists responsible for the 9/11 attacks as well as prisoners captured during various wars in the Middle East.
Recently, the Trump administration announced that it would be housing at least 30,000 immigrants at the base. The move comes as President Trump vowed “the largest deportation program of criminals in the history of America.” Because of their proximity to Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean Islands, the U.S. has always faced questions about how well their immigration system can handle millions of people looking to find a better home. This is why we see so much flip-flopping in recent decades where it could be easy to enter the U.S. one year, and extremely difficult the next. Regardless of how the U.S. has handled immigration, Trump’s decision is unlike any other time and has many legal and internal issues. Here, I will break down what exactly Guantanamo Bay is and what the issues from these measures are.
It was not until the height of the Cold War that Guantanamo Bay changed drastically. As Cuba aligned itself with the Soviet Union, the U.S. cut off their diplomatic ties with Cuba in retaliation. This signalled that the U.S. was more independent in their ownership of Guantanamo Bay. The worsening relationship between the U.S. and Cuba caused Guantanamo Bay to be used as a place to detain Caribbean migrants before their boats reached the U.S. After 9/11, however, former president George W. Bush increased the number of prisoners when he started to hold international terrorists there. The prison peaked in population in 2003 when 680 people were held in the facility. Guantanamo Bay’s main controversy stemmed from its human rights abuses. These rights violations include unfair trials, physical torture, and later psychological abuse.
In recent decades, Guantanamo Bay has lessened its capacity and now holds only 24 prisoners. With a new initiative by President Trump, this is likely to change. Last Tuesday, a flight carrying 10 migrants with criminal records landed in Guantanamo Bay. Though they will be housed separately from the current prisoners, Trump asked the Naval base to prepare for tens of thousands of migrants. This raises the first issue of spacing. Although the U.S. Marines flew to Guantanamo Bay to help set up medical, food, and security stations; the facility can currently only hold 200 people. The administration looks to tackle this issue by setting up tents to increase capacity to 30,000.
Despite the Trump administration’s claims that this is only temporary, it is important to recognize the President’s increased use of authority in recent weeks. “Some of them are so bad, we don’t even trust the countries [of origin] to hold them because we don’t want them coming back,” said Trump. “So we’re going to send them out to Guantanamo.” It is still unclear who exactly will be going to these facilities. So far, it has been members of a Venezuelan criminal organization, Tren de Aragua, however the Trump administration has not ruled out deporting non-violent illegal migrants, including women and children. It is important to note that finding 30,000 violent criminals is an extremely difficult task. This policy has the high potential of villainizing thousands of peaceful migrant families.
A second issue in bringing migrants to Guantanamo Bay is the legality. Several legal experts including Ahilan Arulanantham from UCLA questioned Trump’s decision given that criminals are entitled to have a say in where they will be transported. He also reiterated that if Cuba has not agreed to hold these migrants, it would be illegal to deport them there. Questions also come about whether a fair trial will happen given Guantanamo Bay’s history of violating this right.
This is one of many U.S. immigration developments that have never been done at this rate. Despite cheaper costs to keep migrants within the U.S. rather than transporting them to Guantanamo Bay, it is clear that the President is sending a message. A dark message emphasizing an “America First” policy which has undertones of ethnocentrism and xenophobia. Citizens should remain informed about this issue and recognize that the legal and human rights of thousands are at risk.
