The Pentagon expects to send two flights of migrants to Guantanamo Bay this weekend, the first step in President Donald Trump’s plans to use the the base for detaining people swept up in his crackdown on illegal immigration.
The final details are still getting worked out, according to two defense officials, but the planes likely will join another one headed to Peru as the military seeks to enact Trump’s orders to deport thousands of people in the country illegally.
The military has flown eight flights so far — including four to Guatemala, three to Honduras and one to Ecuador — all using military aircraft. But this is the first time migrants would head to the base in Cuba, which presents a unique set of legal and logistical challenges.
Trump issued an executive order Wednesday that instructs the Pentagon and Homeland Security Department to use the base for migrants. Defense officials have been scrambling since to come up with a plan to house up to 30,000 people, far more than the 780 detainees who stayed in a base detention camp during the peak of the war on terror.
This gives the military another costly, short-notice mission as officials also seek to meet a separate Trump order for more troops at the southern border.
The officials were granted anonymity to speak to an evolving situation.
Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, said Wednesday that ICE would be in charge of an expanded facility on Guantanamo, although details are still unclear. The military has traditionally assisted with guarding people housed at the base but not at this scale.
The base is intended to serve as a transit hub for migrants on the way to their home countries, although it’s not clear whether they will be able to easily return.
The base’s detention facilities were designed to hold migrants the Coast Guard picked up at sea. A small group of people, mostly Haitian and Cuban refugees, are currently housed at Guantanamo’s Migrant Operations Center.
