The White House announced Tuesday that President Trump is sending the first flights of illegal migrants from the United States to the Guantanamo Bay
‘Today, the first flights from the United States to Guantanamo Bay with illegal migrants are underway,’ White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an interview with Fox Business.
The detention facility grew in infamy as the location for detained terrorism suspects in recent years, but the Trump administration has decided to emphasize using the facility for deportation.
‘President Trump is not messing around and he’s no longer going to allow America be a dumping ground for illegal criminals from nations all over this world,’ Leavitt said.
Last week, Trump announced plans for his administration to detain as many as 30,000 high priority migrants with criminal records at the military base at Guantanamo Bay.
‘We don’t want them coming back, so we’re sending them to Guantanamo,’ he said at the White House last week.
Trump’s border czar Tom Homan told reporters the administration would expand the capacity of the facility as the military has planned to erect temporary tents.
‘We’re just going to expand upon that existing migrant center,’ Homan said.
Deportation flights of migrants leave the United States aboard military aircraft
The White House announced Marines landed at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba Sunday to support the housing of illegal immigrants at the base once used as a prison for terrorists
The White House previewed the flights by posting photos of Marines on Instagram arriving to the detainment facility to prepare for migrant arrivals.
‘U.S. Marines have arrived at Guantanamo Bay to support the Department of Defense and Homeland Security in expanding the Migrant Operations Center—advancing President Trump’s mission to protect Americans and secure our nation,’ the post read.
More than 150 service members are now at the installation supporting the operation.
The U.S. naval base in Cuba has long had a facility to house migrants slated for deportation but grew more notorious for holding high-security terrorism suspects.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed in an interview on Sunday that Trump’s directive would be followed.
‘You know, if you look at what we are doing today of targeting the worst of the worst, we’ve been very clear on that. The priority of this president is to go after criminal aliens that are making our streets more dangerous,’ she told Meet the Press.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem (pictured) did not rule out the U.S. using GITMO to house illegal migrant women and children saying they will ‘use the facilities that we have’
United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has described the facility as ‘the perfect spot’ for detained migrants
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described Guantanamo Bay facilities as ‘the perfect spot’ for criminal migrants.
‘We don’t want illegal criminals in the United States not a minute longer than they have to be,’ he said in an interview with Fox News. ‘Move them off to Guantánamo Bay, where they can be safely maintained until they are deported to their final location, their country of origin, where they are headed.’
Hegseth is intimately familiar with the facilities as he was deployed at Guantanamo Bay as a member of the Minnesota National Guard from 2004 – 2005. He served as an infantry platoon leader.