All about Guantanamo Bay, Donald Trump’s proposed destination for illegal immigrants

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he was planning to detain 30,000 “criminal illegal aliens” by the notorious Guantanamo Bay Military Prison, which was used to hold suspects of terrorism since the September 11 attacks.

Trump published the shock when he signed a bill that allows detention of unpacking undocumented migrants accused of theft and violent crime named after a US student killed by a Venezuelan immigrant.

He said he signed an executive order that directed the Pentagon and Homeland Security Department to “start preparing the migrant facility of 30,000 people in Guantanamo Bay,” Trump said in the White House.

“We have 30,000 beds in Guantanamo to withhold the worst criminal illegal aliens who threaten the American people. Some of them are so bad that we don’t even trust the countries to keep them because we don’t want them to come Back, “Trump said.

Trump, who called Guantanamo a “hard place to get out of,” Trump said that the measures announced on Wednesday would “bring us a step closer to eradicating scourge of wandering crime in our community once and for all.”

When Trump signs the first law on his second administration, Lake Riley Act, let’s take a closer look at Guantanamo Bay Military Prison-Its purposes, history and significance.

What is Guantanamo’s story?

According to The Guardian, Guantanamo Bay Military Prison was opened in January 2002 on a US naval base on a coastal spit of land in southeastern Cuba, rented from Havana during a treaty back to 1903.

The detention facility was established after the September 11, 2001 attacks under the administration of then-President George W. Bush to deal with prisoners who were called “enemy conflicting” and denied many US legal rights.

Democratic presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden both tried to close the facility, but Congress has opposed the efforts to shoot Guantanamo and it remains open today.

Obama’s administration gave up the efforts to hold trials in New York and place long -term imprisoned in an empty prison in Illinois in the light of furious local resistance.

Also read | Lake Riley Act: Trump 2.0’s first law that is targeted at illegal immigrants in us

Have migrants ever been detained in Guantanamo?

The United States has detained migrants in Guantánamo for decades in a separate area. From 2020-2023, 37 migrants were held, but the number may increase during Trump’s intensified crashes on illegal immigration.

Are there still prisoners there?

Of 800 prisoners held in Guantanamo since 2002, there are only 15 left. Three are eligible for transfer, three for review, seven face fees and two are convicted. The bite’s administration recently released 11 Yemenis.

Most notorious imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay?

Guantanamo has 9/11 plotters, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and USS Cole striker Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. Few prisoners were indicted or convicted, for 55% found not to have committed hostile actions.

Is the violation of human rights not a serious concern?

Guantanamo faces global condemnation for human rights violations. Critics call it a legal deviation that harms American reputation. Controversy includes power feeding of hunger strike, which is considered torture by opponents. At least nine inmates have died there, seven of apparent suicides.

(With input from AFP)