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Every moment of Donald Trump’s first weeks as president seems to spout a new terrifying headline, this time courtesy of a plan to house deported migrants at Guantánamo Bay.
That’s right, Trump’s intent to enact the greatest deportation effort in U.S. history has reached a new low, as the President — in conjunction with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — has outlined plans to house up to 30,000 criminalized migrants in a holding facility at the notorious naval base in Cuba. The plans were outlined in a memo sent to the Pentagon, which ordered the agency, as well as the Department of Homeland Security, to begin preparations to facilitate migrants in custody within the facility in an effort to “halt the border invasion, dismantle criminal cartels and restore national sovereignty,” the memo read.
According to the memo, Guantánamo Bay would be used to house “high-priority criminal aliens” as they await being deported from the U.S. to their home countries. For context, Guantánamo Bay is the site of a military facility that houses criminals who pose a much higher threat than detained immigrants, including suspected foreign terrorists. When speaking of the move, Hegseth said the site would be “a perfect place” to detain migrants as part of the Trump administration’s broader deportation efforts. Naturally, the move has prompted questions given the infamous severity of the facility, but Hegseth has (kind of, not really) quelled some concerns.
The newly elected Secretary assured that migrants would not be housed in the same area as those suspected of terrorism, saying they would instead be detained “temporarily” in a section that has traditionally been used for migrants intercepted at sea. That part of the facility, however, has been empty for years, but Hegseth said it would reopen as a “waystation” to house migrants until “the administration finds other countries to take them.” Elaborating on the plan, Hegseth said migrants would not be put “in camps where ISIS and other criminals [are],” adding it would instead be part of their “temporary transit.”
Despite his assurances, the move still reads ominously, as Hegseth refused to outline what constitutes a “temporary” stay for the migrants and got ahead of one predictable comparison. “This is not the camps,” he said, adding that Guantánamo Bay will instead be used to “humanely move illegals out of our country, where they do not belong.” While the Trump administration might claim otherwise, the pledge that migrants will stay only temporarily in a separate area from terrorists does little to ease concerns about a facility that has prompted consistent outcry from human rights groups.
More broadly, Trump’s mass deportation efforts have seen his administration ramp up ICE raids as swathes of people, including Selena Gomez, flock to social media to mourn the immigration policies. That is simply the latest in a long string of controversial developments as Trump establishes his second term, including his mass signing of executive orders attacking transgender rights and curtailing DEI policies.
Elsewhere, Trump’s appointment of RFK Jr. as Health Secretary has rightfully come under fire, and so too has his decision to pause all federal loan funding. Just today, Trump’s response to the fatal Potomac air crash incident drew intense criticism, as he appeared to blame the tragedy on the former administration. All of that just ten days into his second presidency. Can we flash-forward to 2028?