Former President Donald Trump has directed the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to prepare a large-scale migrant detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.
Speaking at the White House during the signing of the Laken Riley Act, Trump announced plans to expand Guantanamo’s existing detention infrastructure to accommodate up to 30,000 individuals. The facility, originally built to detain suspected terrorists, will now be used to hold the worst of the worst who entered the country illegally, writes CBS News.
The president made the announcement from the White House before he signed the Laken Riley Act, a new law that expands the mandatory detention of migrants to include noncitizens who are charged with burglary, larceny, theft or shoplifting. The law is named after a 22-year-old nursing student, Laken Riley, who was murdered by an undocumented Venezuelan immigrant.
Mr. Trump said Guantanamo Bay has thousands of beds available, and “most people don’t even know about it.”
“We have 30,000 beds in Guantanamo to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people,” he said. “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 base also includes a facility, known as the Migrant Operations Center, where U.S. immigration officials have screened some asylum-seekers intercepted at sea for years. That area is separate from the detention center, the post-9/11 military prison where the U.S. still holds 15 terrorism suspects. The U.S. military prison at Guantanamo was opened in January 2002 and was designated for War on Terror suspects.
A relatively small number of migrants are housed there while they undergo interviews with asylum officers.
Trump’s directive, issued through a presidential memorandum, is positioned as a measure to curb crime linked to unauthorized migration. However, the order leaves key questions unanswered, including how detainees will be selected, the conditions under which they will be held, and the timeline for the facility’s expansion.
Located in Cuba, the Guantanamo Bay detention center has been a contentious issue in U.S. politics since its establishment following the September 11 attacks.
Initially used to detain suspected terrorists, the facility became a symbol of indefinite detention and legal gray areas under President George W. Bush. Public opposition intensified over time, prompting President Barack Obama to attempt its closure—a goal ultimately blocked by congressional resistance. Although the facility now holds only a small number of detainees, Trump’s directive could significantly alter its role in U.S. immigration policy. If fully implemented, the expansion would mark one of the most dramatic shifts in how the U.S. handles undocumented migrants, particularly those from countries that refuse to accept deported individuals.
Trump’s decision has already drawn criticism from immigration advocacy groups and Democratic lawmakers, who argue that using military detention centers for migrants raises serious legal and humanitarian concerns. Potential legal challenges could also delay or block the policy’s implementation. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House border czar Tom Homan defended the plan, emphasizing that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would oversee operations at the facility.
“There’s already a migrant center there—it’s been there for decades. So we’re just going to expand upon that existing migrant center,” Homan told The Washington Examiner.
