Most of the Venezuelan migrants deported to the U.S. military camp in Guantanamo Bay by the Trump government are being guarded by military rather than regular immigration officials.
According to a report by The New York Times, quoting sources involved in the operation, though the U.S. government says that these detainees are still under the jurisdiction of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the military troops and doctors are tasked with supervising them.
Earlier this month, the U.S. sent the first batch of migrants to Guantanamo Bay after President Donald Trump announced the expansion of immigration detention centers at the base. The president has directed the expansion of the current migrant detention center to hold about 30,000 people.
Detainees Housed in Former Al Qaeda Prison Wing
Little has been made public regarding the identities of individuals held at Guantanamo Bay, except their Venezuelan status, which the Department of Homeland Security confirmed. But 53 men are today being held at Camp 6, a section once used to hold Al Qaeda suspects, The New York Times reports.
Tricia McLaughlin, a Homeland Security spokeswoman, said that almost 100 people had been shipped off to Guantanamo Bay, all of whom had final deportation orders. “Each of these individuals committed a crime by entering the United States illegally,” she said, adding that the detainees are “violent gang members and other high-threat illegal aliens.”
Still, the report revealed that some of the detainees had not been illegal entrants to the country, as a number of them had first arrived at the border asking for asylum only to be turned down.
Detainees Face Primitive Living Conditions
There have been accounts of deteriorated living standards in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. One reported that Camp 6 is broken, with splintered showers and faulty doors, making facilities near-useless. Two sources close to the prison’s workings reported that detainees are being given military rations called MREs (Meals Ready to Eat), which are usually reserved for combat troops.
As concerns increased over the treatment and monitoring of these detainees, the situation at Guantanamo Bay continues to be a source of controversy regarding the Trump administration’s wide-ranging immigration policies.
