A government memo acquired by CBS News reveals that the Trump administration established extensive guidelines on which migrants can be held at Guantanamo Bay, permitting officials to send non-criminal detainees there, despite a commitment to confine “the worst” offenders at the naval facility.
In a move to intensify his immigration crackdown, President Trump directed officials in late January to transform facilities within the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, into holding sites for migrants residing illegally in the U.S. At that time, Mr. Trump stated that “the worst” migrants would be detained at the base, instructing officials to create room for “high-priority criminal aliens.”
However, a previously undisclosed agreement between the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense indicates that the Trump administration provided officials with wide discretion to determine who to send to Guantanamo Bay, implementing criteria unrelated to the severity of detainees’ criminal activity or conduct. Notably, the memo does not reference any evaluation of criminality. [Read the full memo at the end of this story.]
Instead, the agreement, signed on March 7 by leading DHS and Pentagon officials, stipulates that the departments agreed to utilize the Guantanamo base to detain migrants who have final deportation orders and demonstrate “a nexus to a transnational criminal organization (TCO) or criminal drug activity.”
Officials interpreted “nexus” broadly. According to the memo, it can be established if migrants with final deportation orders are affiliated with a transnational criminal group or paid one “to be smuggled into the United States.” This latter condition could potentially apply to many migrants and asylum-seekers who have crossed the U.S. southern border illegally, as criminal organizations in Mexico largely oversee the illegal movement of people and drugs.
Migrants who have overstayed a visa are not eligible for Guantanamo detention, as per the document. However, if a migrant’s entry is ambiguous, the memo allows officials to presume that the individual paid a criminal group to enter the U.S. and to send them to Guantanamo if they come from a country “where the majority of individuals from that country enter the United States in that manner.”
The criteria for transferring migrants to Guantanamo, as detailed in the memo, seem to contradict statements made by Mr. Trump and senior administration officials who implied that the facility would be designated for dangerous criminals.
Theresa Cardinal Brown, a former immigration official during the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, noted that the memo’s rules “apply very broadly to any immigrant who came to the U.S. via the U.S.-Mexico border.”
“It is widely recognized that nearly every immigrant who arrives at the U.S.-Mexico border has to pay some form of money to the cartels that control the territory in Mexico, either directly or indirectly,” she stated.
Cardinal Brown further emphasized that the rules seem to lack “any individualized assessment” to evaluate whether migrant detainees pose a threat before they are sent to Guantanamo.
Department of Defense spokesperson Kingsley Wilson confirmed the memo’s existence, stating it “strengthens DoD and DHS collaboration by clarifying roles and responsibilities, and promoting efficient and coordinated operations at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay.”
CBS News has reached out to DHS representatives for their comments.
The Guantanamo operation is not the only immigration initiative of the Trump administration under scrutiny regarding who exactly has been targeted. For instance, in mid-March, the administration deported 238 Venezuelans to El Salvador so they could be imprisoned in that country’s notorious mega-prison. Although the Trump administration claimed all were criminals and gang members, a “60 Minutes” investigation found that 75% of the Venezuelan deportees had no criminal record.
A high-profile yet largely secretive operation
The Trump administration initially started transferring migrants to Guantanamo in February, initially focusing on Venezuelans, including men it alleged had ties to the Tren de Aragua gang. The first group of Venezuelan detainees was eventually flown to Honduras, where the Venezuelan government collected them for repatriation.
Since then, the administration has intermittently flown migrants from various countries to the base, returning them later to the U.S. or other nations. Administration officials have frequently highlighted the flights to Guantanamo but have provided limited information on the operation, including costs and eligibility criteria for being sent to the base.
What has been publicly disclosed, by CBS News and other media, indicates that officials have transferred both “high-threat” and “low-risk” detainees to Guantanamo, including migrants whose families have denied allegations of gang affiliations and criminality.
Government guidelines classify migrant detainees as posing a “high” threat if they have violent or serious criminal histories, histories of disruptive behavior, or alleged gang connections. Low-risk detainees are those facing deportation due to illegal presence in the U.S. but without any serious criminal backgrounds — or none at all.
Migrants sent to Guantanamo classified as “high-threat” are held at Camp VI, a portion of the post-9/11 prison that currently houses approximately a dozen terrorism suspects. Those deemed “low-risk” are transferred to the base’s Migrant Operations Center, a barrack-like facility historically used for asylum-seekers intercepted at sea.
Wilson, the Department of Defense spokesperson, reported that there are presently 42 migrants detained at Guantanamo, with 32 located in the Migrant Operations Center and 10 classified as “high-threat” housed at Camp VI.
The March 7 memo obtained by CBS News clarifies other operational elements at Guantanamo. For instance, it affirms that migrant detainees retain legal custody under Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), even though the military manages their detainment facilities.
Under the agreement, DHS acknowledged the conditions at Camp VI and the Migrant Operations Centers to be suitable for adult migrants, stating it would not transfer minors to the base. The department committed to sending ICE officers or contractors to the base to oversee security at the Migrant Operations Center.
The memo requires DHS to provide detainees with services such as recreational and religious accommodations, decide on access to attorneys for migrants, and manage “involuntary medical treatment,” including hunger strike force-feeding.
The agreement also assigns DHS the responsibility of facilitating the transfer of detainees to and from Guantanamo, mandating that it relocate migrants from the base within 180 days after issuing their deportation orders.
The military, as outlined in the agreement, is primarily responsible for ensuring security at Camp VI and the facility’s perimeter. They also agreed to provide toilets, hygiene facilities, and medical care for both ICE staff and detained migrants.
The memo states the Department of Defense has committed to constructing tents at the base to accommodate additional detainees, although these sites have yet to be utilized for migrant detention. The agreement notes that the tents “lack power, lighting, and heating/air conditioning.”
Legal challenges from advocates, including the American Civil Liberties Union, target the effort to detain migrants at Guantanamo.
The ACLU has alleged in court documents that migrants were originally held incommunicado at Guantanamo, without the ability to contact relatives or attorneys. The administration later claimed it had implemented measures to grant migrant detainees access to legal representation.
The ACLU has also described the conditions of detention at Guantanamo as deplorable, citing testimonials from migrants held there. One statement from a Venezuelan man previously detained at the base indicated he went on a hunger strike out of a sense of having been “kidnapped.”
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, the primary architect of the Trump administration’s immigration policies, stated earlier this week that there are no intentions to halt the use of Guantanamo for migrant detention.
“It’s wide open,” Miller declared on Fox News. “Gitmo is open.”
Read the memo below:
