With just a couple of weeks remaining in Joe Biden’s presidency, the Democratic administration was able to transfer another group of prisoners from Guantánamo Bay, successfully shrinking the overall prison population to just 15 people. It led the editorial board of The Washington Post to note soon after, “Leaving only 15 detainees in Guantánamo Bay at an estimated cost of about $500 million a year — $33 million per prisoner — exposes the absurdity of keeping the prison open at all.”
One U.S. official said this week, “We’ve been ramping down this mission.”
At the least, that was the plan. Evidently, Donald Trump has an entirely new vision for Guantánamo Bay’s near future. NBC News reported:
President Donald Trump signed a memo Wednesday that sets in motion preparations for a facility to house thousands of migrants at the U.S. military camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, which he said was an effort to ‘halt the border invasion.’
He went on to say that this facility would detain “the worst” undocumented immigrants, adding that it would be “a tough place to get out of.”
The Republican has taken an interest in the base before. On the campaign trail in 2016, for example, Trump suggested he’d try to expand Guantánamo’s prison population, rather than try to shrink it. “We’re gonna load it up with some bad dudes, believe me, we’re gonna load it up,” he boasted at the time.
Once in office, however, he lost interest. On the first day of Trump’s first term, there were 41 prisoners at Guantánamo. On his last day in office, the total was 40, his “bad dudes” assurances notwithstanding.
If his latest directive to the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security are any indication, however, the president is far more serious about his expansive Guantánamo plans for his second term. At a White House event, he said he’s instructed officials to “begin preparing” a 30,000-person “migrant facility.”
As is often the case with Trump’s initiatives, there are all kinds of substantive questions that don’t appear to have answers yet. NBC News’ report noted that even Defense Department officials were caught “off-guard” by the announcement.
How will the military be involved? No one seems to know. Why will the military be involved? No one seems to know. Is this a short- or a long-term mission for the military? No one seems to know. How much will this cost? No one seems to know.
Why transport tens of thousands of apprehended migrants to the facility at all? The administration might come up with a detailed explanation, but that hasn’t happened yet.
Nevertheless, newly sworn in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sat down with Fox News — the former television personality’s previous employer — for his first interview since joining the White House Cabinet, and he insisted that Guantánamo Bay “is a perfect place” for migrants.
He also clarified that the mass detention facility would be separate from the high-security prison used to house terrorism suspects.
It was also of interest, however, when Hegseth took a moment to claim, “This is not the camps. … This is a temporary transit.”
Of course, if the administration intends to transport tens of thousands to a military facility on an island, officials shouldn’t be too surprised if the word “camps” comes up from time to time.
