USA Removes All Immigrants from Guantanamo Bay Prison

Donald Trump’s regime removed from Guantanamo Bay all immigrants being held there after admitting to a judge how many were there.

The immigrants did not all have any criminal records. Nearly one third were categorized at lower threat levels.

Guantanamo Bay was set up for high security detention of a limited number of people accused of terrorism, not anywhere near the up to 30,000 immigrants Trump had announced he wanted to put there.

To clear the base of immigrants, 178 Venezuelans were flown to Venezuela from the base in Cuba.

The regime was responding to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Center for Constitutional Rights, and others including families of detained immigrants. The lawsuit asserts that immigrants sent to Guantanamo Bay have “effectively disappeared into a black box and cannot contact or communicate with their family or attorneys.”

The Department of Justice argued that “Detainees have not been deprived of a constitutional right to access counsel” because they “do not have the same due process protections” and “do not have a statutory right to counsel.” The DOJ claimed that immigrants detained there were able to access counsel through law-of-war processes, not standard processes for detained immigrants.

Trump’s intention to send tens of thousands of immigrants there has gotten attention from international humanitarian groups due to the potential for mistreatment in an opaque offshore holding center.

About 400 immigrants have gone through this scheme to process them through Guantanamo Bay at a cost of about $40 million.

Click here for more details.