The first criminal migrant flight to Guantanamo Bay took off this morning. (Image: Department of Homeland Security)
launched the first US military flight deporting criminal migrants to Guantanamo Bay.
The flight landed in Cuba on Tuesday evening, a US official confirmed, marking the first in what is expected to be to the military detention facility.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed: “The first flights from the United States to Guantanamo Bay with illegal migrants are under way. He’s [Trump] not messing around.”
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth called Guantanamo Bay, which was mainly used to detain people after 9/11, a “perfect facility”.
Mr Trump previously , which he said can hold up to 30,000 people, as a holding centre.
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The migrants will be held in a military facility. (Image: Department of Homeland Security)
Roughly a dozen migrants were flown from Fort Bliss, Texas, according to anonymous sources speaking to the .
US troops have also been arriving at the facility in the past few days to help out, with approximately 300 supporting operations.
Roughly 230 of them are from the 6th Marine Regiment, who began arriving in Friday. to 500 in the coming days, a defence official said.
This move is highly controversial, with human rights activists warning of the detention centre’s previous treatment of inmates.
Amy Fischer, director of the Refugee and Migrant Rights Program at Amnesty International USA, said: “Sending immigrants to Guantanamo is a profoundly cruel, costly move.
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Roughly a dozen people were flown from Texas to Cuba, a source said. (Image: Department of Homeland Security)
“It will cut people off from lawyers, family and support systems, throwing them into a black hole so the US government can continue to violate their human rights out of sight. Shut Gitmo down now and forever.”
Hannah Flamm, interim senior director of policy for the International Refugee Assistance Project, added: “These flights set the stage , indefinite detention, and crushing family separations.
“The United States has a deplorable history of detaining different groups of people unlawfully at Guantanamo to avoid oversight and the public eye, and this latest chapter is no exception.”