The Trump administration has transferred more than 175 men from a migration site in Texas to the American military base in Guantanamo Bay. They were all described as the Venezuelan who issued final deportation orders. But it is not known why these men were sent in particular there.
Waves of immigrants, including thousands of haitians and Cubans, have been placed at the base over the years. But it is better to be known as the wartime detainees who were captured after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Because of this legacy, the Guantanamo Bay sometimes raises the idea of detention indefinitely without charge, a legal black hole without a way out.
Here are some things that we have learned about the migrant task so far.
Is Guantanamo ready for 30,000 immigrants?
On January 29, President Trump ordered the defense and internal security departments to prepare the base to receive up to 30,000 immigrants.
Satellite images show that tents are rising near a building that has been used for migrant operations in the past.
As of Tuesday, the army said that there are about 850 soldiers and civilians who were appointed to immigrant operations, more than 700 of them in the US military.
With the support of the Coast Guard, the army was guarding and managing the Venezuelan in two separate buildings: the 120 -bed migrant operations center near tents and military prison 176 cells on the other side of the base for men, the Trump administration was classified as a possible or more dangerous dangerous. As of Wednesday, there were about 175 detainees there, and 127 of them considered “highly threatening foreigners”, according to the Ministry of Defense official, who was not allowed to discuss the operation and spoke on the condition that his identity was not disclosed.
So far, the Immigrant Operations Center has been the exclusive field of the Ministry of Internal Security, which the contractors rented to operate. As of last week, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Department at the Ministry of National Security had 10 officers on a temporary mission for the entire migrant mission and plans to send 50 “contract security personnel”, according to internal security representatives at the homeland.
To expand it to a capacity in tens of thousands, the administration will need to add more employees. A military plan for migrants shows plans to house more than 3,500 American forces near Al -Khaima camps for more than 11,000 immigrants.
Who are the men who are now held in Guantenamo Bay?
The Trump administration generally described the men who were sent to the base as including the violent gang members who were detained for deportation, but it has not provided any evidence.
The administration did not issue its names or the basis for the planned deportation. But examining the court records of some men, who know their names, show that they entered the country illegally, for example by crossing Rio Grande, and they were captured by border guards.
Recently, officials have described them as “illegal foreigners.”
Are the Venezuelan men who are prisoners coming forever?
This may depend on whether the Trump administration can make arrangements for the Venezuelan government or another country to receive it.
US officials described the migrant migrants at Guantanamo as a temporary location for people with final deportation orders. Complications can include whether individuals have to claim that they should not be sent home, for example if they submit asylum applications that are not completely decided.
Even with the arrival of the Venezuelan to Guantanamo, others were sent to Venezuela. On February 10, Venezuela I sent two planes To El Paso and capture about 190 of its citizens, who were also under deportation orders. On the same day, a US military cargo plane moved 15 men to Guantenamo Bay. These men were placed in a 120 -bed ward.
As for the task of detention related to terrorism in Guantanamo, 780 prisoners of the leadership and Rose Taliban were sent from 2002 to 2008. Today, there are still only 15. They are being held as military prisoners under the authority of the main war authorities, and six awaiting trial.
Can migrants use the courtroom designed for the September 11 case?
It is not without radically changing the law.
The law that established the military commission system in particular limits its use in war crimes of foreign citizens who are members of the base or their partners, specifically from the men detained in the war against terrorism, and International armed conflict.
Under American law, Al Qaeda prisoners in Guantenamo can not put American lands.
The Venezuelan in Guanttenamo are civilian prisoners, who were detained in the United States or on the southwestern border, at a time of peace, and they are in the custody of the Ministry of Internal Security. Like prisoners of war, they may be able to challenge their detention in the Federal Court.
But immigrants were not accused of war crimes, and there is nothing prohibited from returning to the United States to appear before the court.
What is the big deal about the American forces guarding immigrants in the terrorist prison?
For beginners, there is concern about the task crawling and the militarization of the civil security challenge. There is also an issue whether it is legal or embezzlement of money.
The US military traditionally provided security and support to the Ministry of Internal Security in the United States, but left the guard and management of foreign citizens pending the deportation of the immigration service employees and contractors. It works under different rules, and it often has the language skills and experience needed for this function.
In Guantenamo, the army guards and marine paramedics who work in the time of wartime and the court were trained on a specific military police mission: housing and caring for detainees who have long been owned by the war against terrorism. These older men who were in Guantenamo for 17 years or more. Army prison guards and maritime paramedics are now concerned with dozens of Spanish -young men who are in the Spanish speakers of immigration detention facilities, which operate according to various bases.
Also, some migrants are held in what can be called a dual military nursery at the hard -to -reach base, whose arrival is controlled by its marine commander.
Men who have been classified as “illegal foreigners with a great threat” are held in the prison building and who have been held until recently the suspects of the base. This building is located within a special security area for wartime detention operations, and its arrival is controlled by an army colonel who answers the southern American leadership.
Do we know how much this will cost?
No, but it will be expensive. Tents and eligibility were already stored in Guantanamo, in the event of a humanitarian crisis in the Caribbean. But most provisions, including drinking water platforms, must be transferred to the base.
Prison and court jobs in the war on terrorism have cost billions of dollars since 2002. This has reached $ 13 million per prisoner annually, according to a study conducted in 2019, including court costs.
But this process has more stable costs, as the forces reach the scheduled courses on the rented aircraft and place them in a barrack that was built for prison guards.
Now the Pentagon climbed to the base using the C-17S and other expensive air freight aircraft, and it will need to fill and train more forces for the new mission.
Is this all part of the correspondence strategy?
Certainly, pictures of men in the restrictions loaded on charging aircraft to Guantanamo Bay messages may be sent.
Foreigners may be folded illegally to the United States for fear of ending in Guantanamo. Trump supporters may also see that the process reaches a promise of the president’s foot in his first campaign to load cells in Guantanamo with “bad men”.
Legal challenges began.
