US military to fly migrants to Guantanamo Bay today

WASHINGTON: The first US military aircraft carrying detained migrants to Guantanamo Bay is expected to depart on Tuesday, US officials said, as President Donald Trump’s administration prepares to potentially house tens of thousands of migrants at the naval base in Cuba.

Trump said he wants the Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security to expand a migrant detention facility at the base to hold more than 30,000 migrants.

“Today, the first flight from the United States to Guantanamo Bay with illegal migrants are underway,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on FOX Business.

One official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the flight would be carrying nearly a dozen migrants.

The flight to Guantanamo Bay adds to military flights that have already deported migrants to Guatemala, Peru, Honduras and India.

The Pentagon has said it plans to deport more than 5,000 migrants held by US authorities in El Paso, Texas, and San Diego, California.

On the other hand, Donald Trump Jr, the eldest son of US President Donald Trump, broke Italian and European Union environmental protection laws when he hunted ducks near Venice in December, according to two Italian Green party lawmakers.

Andrea Zanoni, a member of the Veneto regional assembly, and Luana Zanella, a national parliamentarian, have filed two separate parliamentary questions urging regional and national authorities to take action against the alleged offence.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Zanoni said he had seen footage of Trump Jr hunting in a “Natura 2000” EU conservation zone in the Venice lagoon, standing near a dead ruddy shelduck, a protected species.

“The video shows Trump Jr with a ruddy shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea) in the foreground, a duck that is very rare in all of Europe and protected by the EU Birds Directive and by the Italian law on the protection of wild fauna … The killing or holding of this animal is punishable by law,” Zanoni said.

Hunting in Italy is legal, but strictly regulated.

In the nearly 6-minute video Zanoni referred to, Trump Jr can be seen on a duck hunting trip in marshlands near Venice promoted by Field Ethos, an outdoors activities brand he co-founded.

“Lots of wigeon, teal (ducks),” he says in the video, describing his hunting spoils. He then says he also caught “a rather uncommon duck for the area, not even sure what it is in English”, before concluding: “incredible shoot”.