Last week, Kristi Noem, secretary of the home protection authority, visited the US military base in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, where the Trump government began to send people as criminals. Noem said That the location “houses the worst and illegal criminals in the United States of America”. President Trump signed An executive memo In January, the facilities at the naval station steered in such a way that they are expanded to the full capacity.
Send Undocumented immigrants According to Guantanamo Bay, there is a lost proposal. The step raises serious legal, logistical and human rights issues. It will cause more problems than it solves, while it does little to improve our dysfunctional immigration system.
The move of the administration can appear briefly in one way: as a short-term PR game. Some Trump supporters welcomed the idea because they believe that they send a message about how difficult the administration is among migrants. However, Trump and Noem will find out why it is a terrible policy to keep people at Gitmo.
Although Guantanamo is Best known as a place Wherever suspects take place, his facilities have already been used to accommodate migrants. In the early nineties, thousands of Haitians and Cubans were arrested there. But these were people who fled from their home countries who were intercepted at sea. They had never gained a foothold in the USA, in contrast to the migrants who are Trump Send there now. This distinction is critical because undocumented people who were in the United States guaranteed Certain proper procedural rights according to our constitution. Factor on a top court that decides that Guantanamo imprisoned have the right To question your detention and it is a recipe for endless jurisdiction.
Admission is wrong if it believes that the dispatch of migrants after Gitmo will avoid examining your treatment. Guantanamo is a top -class place, the Amnesty International Once referred to “The sip of our time.” There are Already complain in the works About the attitude of migrants in Guantanamo; On Monday a federal court temporarily blocked The transfer of three Venezuelans on the base, a harbinger of other legal disputes.
To be clear, it is not the same to send migrants to Guantanamo as they are deported. It does not deprive them of the bureaucracy of the US immigration system, nor does it exclude them from civil law and puts them under military responsibility, as they were classified as “enemy fighters” for prisoners. It simply sends them off the coast where they will take care of the US government full-time.
The cost of keeping migrants in Guantanamo will be astonishing. An enormous investment of funds will be necessary to expand the capacity of the base, including more money for food, water, personnel, medical facilities, living space and potentially even train – because Noem Noem has repeatedly changed The question of whether migrant children will take place In the sultry tents of the base.
Guantanamo's remote location means that practically everything, from building materials to food supply, has to be imported. 2019 a New York Times analysis found that it cost $ 13 million a year to keep every prisoner in Guantanamo, an amount, the President Trump Then referred to “Crazy” and “Fortunately”. (The average costs per immigration position within the United States are Around 57,000 US dollars a year.))
Imagine how the costs at Gitmo would skyrocket if Trump tries Complete his promise Send 30,000 migrants there. In comparison is it about 40,000 migrants in custody in the United States
From January 6th, Gitmo held 15 prisonersAccommodated by the Ministry of Defense. Scaling the scaling of up to 30,000, the budget budget will consider the home protection – at the expense of the political goals that the President's supporters say how they want, such as mass shifts and border security.
The administration wants to keep migrants in Guantanamo until they can be pushed back to their countries of origin. However, there are countries like Cuba and China that refuse Take back deportedAnd other nations can stop accepting deportants depending on the state of relationships with the United States, and filling Guantanamo with migrants has the potential to do it in. Once again – a constant criminal colony.
Guantanamo today has a notorious reputation due to abuses that occurred there as part of the “War War after September 11”. That started more than 20 years ago and only last yearThe international project to support the refugee in the facility found that the conditions in the facility are inhumane, citing and drinkable water, open wastewater and poor medical care.
Keeping migrants in Guantanamo could even backfire. 1993 a federal judge Order the publication by Haitians from the island because of inadequate medical facilities and violations of the proper procedure.
Sending migrants to Guantanamo Bay is expensive, inefficient and cruel. It is a wrong solution that is intended to become a long -term political and humanitarian catastrophe.
Raul A. Reyes is an immigration lawyer and employees of NBC Latino and CNN. X: @Raulareyes; Instagram: @Ralarerees1