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The US has sent the first group of migrants to Guantanamo Bay since President Donald Trump announced plans to expand migrant detention at the base.
A brief statement from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the detainees were part of the Tren de Aragua – a gang that originated in Venezuela’s prisons.
Ten detainees were flown from the Fort Bliss Army base near the Texas border to the US Navy base in Cuba on Tuesday afternoon.
Last week, Trump ordered that an existing migrant detention facility at the base be expanded to hold some 30,000 people.
He said that would double the US capacity to hold undocumented migrants.
The move is part of Trump’s effort to crack down on undocumented migrants in the US after his return to office. He has promised arrests and mass deportations.
In Tuesday’s brief statement, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said: “President Donald Trump has been very clear: Guantanamo Bay will hold the worst of the worst. That starts today.”
The department published several photographs of the detainees being taken on board the plane. Two officials told CBS that the group was considered “high-threat“.
Trump ordered that the Tren de Aragua be designated as a foreign terrorist organisation last month, as part of a directive targeting gangs and cartels.
Source and photo – the BBC
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