SANTA FE, N.M. — U.S. immigration and military officials announced that immigrants from 27 different countries are currently detained at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station in Cuba. The details around the conditions of their confinement were also disclosed, as officials defended the government’s right to move and hold immigrants at this military location.
According to recent court documents from the Homeland Security and Defense departments, there are 40 immigrants with final deportation orders being detained at Guantanamo Bay as of the latest update. Out of these, 23 individuals deemed “high risk” are being kept in separate cells. The remaining detainees are housed in a special area designed for migrants, with groups composed of up to six individuals.
This disclosure follows a lawsuit filed by civil rights attorneys against the Trump administration, which is attempting to prevent the transfer of ten migrants detained in the U.S. to Guantanamo Bay. Statements from those currently held there describe hostile conditions, with one detainee characterizing it as “a living hell.”
In response to the legal action, Justice Department representatives argued that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has expansive authority to detain immigrants who have final deportation orders at Guantanamo Bay. This is considered permissible “for only so long as their removal remains significantly likely to occur within a reasonably foreseeable future.”
The Trump administration also put forward in court that the naval station does not have to be proven as the only logistical option or necessarily the least expensive. The government further clarified that mass removal efforts partially aim to dissuade illegal migration.
Testimonies from ICE and military officials depict that detainees at Guantanamo Bay are being treated with “dignity and respect.” The detainees reportedly have access to legal counsel, receive regular meals, and are provided with laundry service and medical care equivalent to other ICE detention facilities.
However, the documents also admit that the naval base has not accommodated requests for in-person visits from legal representatives. Some detainees have refused food, and a few have been restrained after threatening self-harm. Upon arrival, high-risk detainees undergo strip searches, while pat-downs are performed when leaving certain areas.
Detainees are allowed daily personal phone calls of up to five minutes, although these conversations are monitored by ICE officials.
While President Trump has stated his intention to transfer the most dangerous criminal migrants to Guantanamo Bay, the civil rights attorneys have noted that many of those moved do not possess serious or any criminal records.
ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt, representing the immigrants in an attempt to block these transfers, mentioned they do not have a complete list of who is detained at Guantanamo Bay, nor do they know all their countries of origin. He refrained from commenting further on the case before it goes to court.
The ten individuals central to the lawsuit entered the U.S. in 2023 or 2024, with seven originating from Venezuela and the others from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. In January, Trump announced plans to expand the detention facilities at Guantanamo to accommodate 30,000 people, beginning the process of flying in immigrants on February 4.
Initially, nearly 200 Venezuelans were transferred to this location but subsequently flown back to their home country. By the recent update, no Venezuelans remain detained at Guantanamo Bay.
While the naval base is historically linked to the detainment of suspects post-9/11, a separate facility for housing migrants has existed for decades. Tent structures have been constructed to hold up to 520 immigrants, though they remain unused for now, as detainees are kept in a designated medium-security facility built in the same style as U.S. prisons.
The migrant detention area is distinct from that utilized by the military for holding and adjudicating foreigners captured during the military campaign termed the “war on terror” by President George W. Bush’s administration.
