Attorneys sue Trump administration to prevent the deportation of 10 asylum-seekers to Guantanamo Bay
In this photo reviewed by US military officials, the Office of Military Commissions building used for Periodic Review Board hearings stands, on April 18, 2019, in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
A lawsuit was filed by civil rights attorneys against the Trump administration to prevent the transfer of 10 individuals from Venezuela, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who came to the US for asylum, to the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay. Historically, the base was used to house terrorists connected to the 9/11 attacks. However, under the oversight of the Trump administration, the base has been converted into a detention center for migrants, and is undergoing an expansion project to house up to 30,000 detainees. Within a week of the first military flight on Feb. 4 that carried immigrants to Guantanamo Bay, over 50 detainees were flown to the military base.
The lawsuit, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, was the second to be filed in less than a month; the first was against the Trump administration to prevent previous detainees from speaking to an attorney. This was one of the multiple civil and human rights violations endured by immigrants entering Guantanamo Bay. Separate claims of severe abuse from two detainees reported to NPR the details of two weeks of inhumane treatment at the hands of US soldiers serving as security officers in the detention center. Mayfreed Durán Arapé, one of the asylum-seekers from Venezuela, described how he was denied access to a lawyer and a phone to contact his family. He alleged that he received beatings from the guards so severe that he self-harmed in an attempt to commit suicide. Durán Arapé, along with another of the detainees from Venezuela, detailed how they were misled into believing they were being sent back to Venezuela, but were actually taken to Guantanamo Bay.
Yoiner Purroy Roldán added to Durán Arapé’s accounts and stated that they were denied access to showers for days and given a single bucket to relieve themselves. After two weeks, the men, along with eight others, were flown first to Honduras then to Caracas, Venezuela. Former detainee, Diuvar Uzcátegui, recounted to the Washington Post a similar experience and noted that he could hear screams and threats of suicide from his prison cell.
When asked about the claims made by Uzcátegui, White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, responded, “It's a promise the President campaigned on, that if you invade our nation's borders, if you break our country's laws, and if then you further commit heinous, brutal crimes in the interior of our country...you are going to be deported from this country, and you may be held at Guantanamo Bay.” Leavitt implied that the conditions reported by the detainees were appropriate for illegal immigrants; she did not deny the detainees’ claims.
Trump defended his choice to hold migrants in Guantanamo Bay by saying they were among the most violent criminals and the move would dismantle gang organizations. He stated, “Some of them are so bad that we don’t even trust the countries to hold them because we don’t want them coming back, so we’re gonna send ’em out to Guantanamo.” Despite these claims, 30% of the detainees were considered “low risk” and did not have a previous criminal record. Roldán and Durán Arapé were both accused of being members of the transnational criminal organization, Tren de Aragua, though both denied those claims and no evidence of their involvement was provided.
Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, described the naval base as “the perfect place” to house immigrants. However, United Nations investigators reported in 2023 that Guantanamo Bay housed “ongoing cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment under international law.”
The isolation from the continental US makes it difficult for immigrants transported to Guantanamo Bay to have access to lawyers or to contact family members. It also raises concerns over transparency of operations. The most recent lawsuit argues that transporting immigrants to Cuba is illegal and violates the right to due process. Under federal immigration law, the US cannot send immigrants to non-US territories, but Guantanamo Bay is legally a part of Cuba. To regulate border security, Trump has pushed legal and ethical boundaries while setting a new precedent to address issues surrounding immigration in the US. While the possibility of housing 30,000 immigrants in Guantanamo Bay remains in question, the legality of the deportation efforts poses a much more pressing concern.