The president of the United States, Donald Trump, said Wednesday (29.01.2025) that he wants Guantanamo’s military prison, normally reserved for prisoners accused of terrorism, is ready to house up to 30,000 migrants in an irregular situation.
“I will sign today a decree ordering the Departments of Defense and Internal Security that begin to prepare the facilities for 30,000 migrants in the Bay of Guantanamo,” he said. He added that it would be “criminals” in an irregular situation.
Some of these migrants “are so bad that we do not even trust that countries retain them, because we don’t want them to return,” Trump said.
The measure “would duplicate our ability immediately” to retain migrants, he added, and described Guantanamo as a “place that is difficult to leave.”
Created for “war on terrorism”
During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump denounced an “invasion” of migrants, whom he accuses of “poisoning the blood” of the United States and having caused a wave of crime, something that no official statistic demonstrates.
The Guantanamo Bay prison was inaugurated in 2002, within an American military base in Cuba, as part of the “war on terrorism” declared by former president George W. Bush after the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Hundreds of prisoners have gone through it, including some members of Al Qaida. It is controversial due to its extreme conditions of detention and the use of torture.
Democratic presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama promised to close it, but none did it during their mandates.
Last September, the New York Times obtained government documents that show that the Guantanamo military base has also been used for decades to imprison some intercepted migrants in the sea.
According to the newspaper, migrants and prisoners accused of terrorism are in different areas of the center. Some associations denounce the treatment they receive, based on testimonies that ensure that migrants are monitored when they call a lawyer, they are forced to wear sunglasses during transport and facilities are full of rats due to the deplorable hygiene conditions.
CT (AFP, EFE)
