President Donald Trump signed on Wednesday a memorandum that put the movement preparations for an installation to house thousands of migrants in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which according to him was an effort to “stop the border invasion.”
“Therefore, I order the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of National Security to take all appropriate measures to expand the Migrant Operations Center at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station to their total capacity to provide an additional detention space for criminal foreigners of high priority present in the United States in the United States.
Trump provided for the board during a signature ceremony for Lak Riley’s law, an immigration detention measure, saying “Indicate the departments of National Defense and Security that begins to prepare the Migrant Center of 30,000 people in the Bay of Guantanamo.”
“Most people don’t even know. We have 30,000 beds in Guantanamo to detain illegal criminal foreigners who threaten the US people. Some of them are so bad that we don’t even trust countries to keep them, because we don’t” I have to return, “Trump added.
The Secretary of National Security, Kristi Noem, said during a CNN interview on Wednesday that “there could be some resources that could be established for the worst of the worst in Guantanamo Bay”, and that Trump and DHS were evaluating those resources.
Trump has made other efforts to take energetic measures against migrants living in the United States illegally.
During his first week in office, Trump declared a national emergency on the border that could allow the Defense Department to deploy the military and the National Guard to the border. He has also signed a series of executive orders aimed at closing illegal immigration on the southern border and deporting millions of people who illegally crossed the United States.
Guantanamo’s announcement of the president caught many officials in the offense, according to five defense officials.
An official said that the Guantanamo mission will be a mission of the Department of National Security. It is not clear if the military will be involved, but the Pentagon currently does not have orders or orientation of the White House beyond the memo, said the official.
The officials who were surprised by Trump’s announcement said they don’t know how many beds for migrants are currently in Guantanamo or if this would be a short or long term mission. They said that there are currently no plans to update or change the military facilities there.
“We have been reducing this mission,” said one of the officials about Guantanamo Bay.
There is a separate migrant operations center that could be expanded, with the help of military construction, and administered by the Department of National Security.
