Trump signs executive order to send illegal migrants to Guantánamo Bay

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security to set up a 30,000-person migrant facility at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.

“We have 30,000 beds in Guantánamo to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people,” Trump said while signing the Laken Riley Act—his first legislation since returning to the White House.

The act is named after Laken Riley, a nursing student killed by an undocumented immigrant in Georgia. It allows authorities to detain undocumented immigrants accused of theft-related crimes.

It remains unclear how Trump arrived at the 30,000-bed figure, as the exact capacity of Guantánamo is unknown. CBS News reported that Trump had previously suggested sending migrants with criminal records to offshore detention centres, but the legal and logistical challenges of such a move remain uncertain.

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Guantánamo Bay already has a Migrant Operations Centre, where US officials screen asylum seekers intercepted at sea. However, this facility is separate from the infamous post-9/11 military prison that still holds 15 terrorism suspects. The US has long barred maritime migrants from entering its territory, instead referring approved asylum seekers for resettlement in third countries like Australia.

Tom Homan, Trump’s “border czar,” said the president’s plan would expand existing facilities at Guantánamo. The executive order is part of a broader set of immigration-related actions taken by Trump since resuming office.

Cuba has strongly criticised the move. President Miguel Díaz-Canel called it an “act of brutality” and condemned the US for detaining migrants in what he called “illegally occupied territory.” He accused Washington of forcibly expelling thousands of people and placing them near prisons known for “torture and illegal detention.”