22 Cubans Sent to Guantánamo Bay Prison

The U.S. has sent 22 Cubans to the Guantánamo Bay Detention Center (GTMO) with the intention of deporting them elsewhere, The New York Times reports. 

The detainees, all men, are the first to be sent there since the immigrant detention center was emptied in October. They are believed to be the first Cubans sent to GTMO since January. 

As part of an ongoing class action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a federal judge ruled earlier this month that the administration was not authorized by federal law to hold migrants at overseas military installations. 

“Guantánamo is largely operating as a black box, and that’s why we’ve asked the court to order the government to provide us with a list of who is sent there,” said Lee Gelernt, a lawyer heading this case with the ACLU, following this most recent transfer of Cubans to GTMO. “The government’s resistance to that reasonable step is astounding.” 

It is unclear where the men would be sent next. Several Cubans have been deported to African countries like South Sudan and Eswatini. 

Days after Trump took office he signed a memorandum to use the prison for “high priority criminal aliens unlawfully present in the United States.” More than 700 people have been held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at GTMO since January. The plan to use GTMO to process deportees sparked fierce criticism from human rights groups. 

In the 1990s, GTMO was used to temporarily incarcerate Cuban and Haitian migrants intercepted at sea. After 9/11 the base became infamous for torture and abuse. Fifteen men remain in the "war on terror" prison at GTMO, where they are being detained indefinitely without access to fair trials. Cuba has consistently called for the closure of the base, opposed its use as a prison and demanded that the 45 square miles of territory the U.S. has occupied since 1898 is returned.