As part of his administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, US president Donald Trump has announced that the United States will hold migrants at the notorious Guantánamo military detention facility in Cuba.
Known primarily for holding suspects accused of terrorism-related offences, Trump ordered the preparation of a 30,000-person “migrant facility” that he said would be used to “detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people.”
Cuba’s foreign minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla said the idea “shows contempt towards the human condition and international law”.
Below, are some key facts about the detention facility in the US-run military enclave.
What is the history of Guantánamo?
The Guantánamo Bay military prison was opened in January 2002 on a US naval base on a coastal spit of land in southeastern Cuba, leased from Havana under a treaty dating back to 1903.
The detention facility was set up after the 11 September 2001 attacks under the administration of then-president George W Bush to deal with prisoners who were termed “enemy combatants” and denied many US legal rights.
Democratic presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden both sought to close the facility, but Congress has opposed efforts to shutter Guantánamo and it remains open to this day.
Obama’s administration gave up on efforts to hold trials in New York and place long-term detainees in an empty prison in Illinois in the face of furious local opposition.
Have migrants ever been detained at Guantánamo?
The New York Times reported in September 2024 that the Guantánamo military base had also been used for decades by the US to detain migrants intercepted at sea, but in an area separate from that used to hold those accused of terrorism.
A relatively small number of migrants have been detained at the facility – the Times reported that just 37 migrants were held there from 2020 to 2023 – but that could increase dramatically following Trump’s announcement.
Trump has launched what his second administration is casting as a major crackdown on illegal migration, trumpeting immigration raids and arrests and deportations on military aircraft.
Are there still prisoners there?
Of the roughly 800 people detained on suspicion of militant activity or terrorism-related offences who have been held at Guantánamo since early 2002, only 15 inmates currently remain, after the release of a number of detainees toward the end of Biden’s administration.
Three of the 15 are eligible for transfer, three are eligible for a review for possible release, seven are facing charges and two have been convicted and sentenced, the defence department said earlier this January when it announced the release of 11 Yemenis who had been held there.
Who are the most notorious detainees?
Guantánamo houses several accused plotters of the 9/11 attacks, among them self-proclaimed mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
Its inmates also include the man accused of masterminding the attack on the USS Cole in 2000, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. He was captured in 2002 and transferred to Guantánamo in 2006.
But few of the prisoners held at the notorious facility have ever been charged, or convicted. About 780 detainees have been held there over the past 20 years, many of them swept up arbitrarily on the battlefield. One university study found that 55% of them had not committed hostile acts against the US or its allies.
Aren’t there major concerns about human rights violations?
The conditions at Guantánamo Bay have prompted consistent outcry from rights groups, and UN experts have condemned it as a site of “unparalleled notoriety.”
The prison camp is viewed by critics as a legal anomaly and lead weight wrapped around America’s global reputation.
Among the controversies to emerge from Guantánamo was the practice of force-feeding inmates on hunger strike. The US military defended it as a necessary medical treatment, but critics likened it to torture.
Dubbed “enteral feeding,” the process involves inserting a tube up an inmate’s nose and into his stomach, then pumping in liquid nutrient.
Over the past 20 years, at least nine inmates have died in the camp, seven of them by apparent suicide.
