U.S. Prepares Guantanamo Bay to House 30,000 “Criminal Aliens”

More than 300 service members arrived at the  Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba  over the weekend to support the operation to hold immigrants lacking permanent legal status, according to a release from U.S. Southern Command.

This follows a January 28 presidential executive order to expand the Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, in order to have more detention space for “high-priority criminal aliens unlawfully present in the United States.”

On Jan. 29, 2025,Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth affirmed that the DOD intends to house up to 30,000 criminal migrants at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, following the president's announcement that he would sign an executive order directing DOD to do so.

“The number of service members will continue to fluctuate as additional forces are tasked to deploy and will be scaled based on the requirements of the Department of Homeland Security, which is the lead federal agency,” reads a statement from SOUTHCOM.

Guantanamo Bay detention center has acquired a reputation for notoriety for the alleged ill-treatment of Al-Qaeda detainees arrested from various parts of the world following the 9-11 attacks. These detainees were classified as “enemy combatants” to deprive them of basic human rights safeguards.