Trump’s administration has moved more than 175 men from the place of immigration posture in Texas to the US military base at the Guantánamo Bay. They are all described as Venezuelani who have been published by the final deportation commands. But it is unknown why these people were specifically sent there.
The waves of migrants, including thousands of Haitians and Cubans, have been housed at the base over the years. But better known as prison for prisoners of war times trapped after terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Because of this legacy, the Guantánamo Bay sometimes evokes the idea of an indefinite custody without accusation, a legal black hole without going out.
Here are some things we have learned about the migrant mission so far.
Is Guantánamo ready for 30,000 migrants?
On January 29, President Trump ordered the departments for defense and homeland security to prepare a base for receiving up to 30,000 migrants.
Satellite images show that tents are increased near a building that has been used for migrant surgery in the past.
Since Tuesday, the army has said that about 850 soldiers and civilians assigned to migrant operations, more than 700 in the US military.
With the support of the Coast Guard, the army kept and managed the Venezuelan in two separate buildings: the Operations Center of Migrants in 120 beds near the tent and a 176 -cell -based military prison on the other side of the Trump administration base was profiled as potentially more dangerous or more dangerous. From Wednesday, about 175 were held there, 127 of which were considered “illegal external aliens”, according to an official of the Ministry of Defense, who was not authorized to discuss surgery and spoke about the state of anonymity.
So far, the Migrant Operations Center has been an exclusive domain of the Ministry of Homeland Security, which hired the performers who managed it. Since last week, the DHS IMIGRATION and Customs Department has had 10 temporary assignments for the entire migrant mission and plan to send 50 “contract staff,” said Congress Homeland Security MPs.
To expand it to tens of thousands capacity, the administration will need to add more staff. A military draft migrant surgery shows that he plans to accommodate more than 3,500 American forces near the tent for more than 11,000 migrants.
Who are the men who are now being held at the Guantánamo Bay?
Trump’s administration has generally described men sent to the base as the involvement of violent gang members who are held for deportation but has not provided any evidence.
The administration did not publish their names or a specific basis for their planned deportation. But the testing of court records for some of the men, whose names are known, shows that they have entered the ground illegally, for example, crossing Rio Grande and picked up by border guards.
More recently, officials describe them as “illegal strangers.”
Are Venecuelan men the next forever prisoners?
It can depend on whether Trump’s administration can arrange a Venezuelan government or other country to receive them.
US officials described the migrant mission in Guantánam as a temporary place for people with final deportation commands. Complications could include if individuals claim that they should not be sent home, for example, if they submitted requests for asylums that were not fully judged.
Even while Venezuelani arrive at Guantánamo, others were sent back to Venezuela. February 10 Venezuela sent two aircraft El Pas and picked up around 190 of their citizens, who were also on the order of deportation. On the same day, an American military cargo plane was translated by 15 men into the Guantánamo Bay. These men were put in a dorm with 120 beds.
As for Guantánamo’s mission related to terrorism, 780 prisoners of Qaeda and Taliban were sent there from 2002 to 2008. Only 15 are left today. They are held as military prisoners under the presidential war powers and are waiting for trial.
Can migrants use a courtroom built for the case of September 11?
Not without radical change of law.
The law created by the System of Military Commission especially limits its use to trials of war crimes of foreign citizens who are Al Qaeda members or their associates, especially men who were detainees in the war against terrorism, an International armed conflict.
According to US law, the Qaeda prisoners at the Guantánamo Bay cannot go to US soil.
The Venezuelani in Guantánam are civilian prisoners who have been taken into custody in the United States or at the southwestern border, at the time of peace, and are technically in custody of the Ministry of Internal Security. They, like prisoners of war, can be able to dispute their custody in the federal court.
But migrants are not charged with committing war crimes, and nothing forbids them to return to the United States to appear in court.
What is a big deal with American troops that keep migrants in terrorism prison?
For starters, there is concern about crawling a mission and militarization of civilian security challenge. The question is also asked whether the legal or pronunciation of the appropriation of funds is.
The US army has traditionally provided security and support to the Ministry of Internal Security in the United States, but has abandoned guarding and managing foreign citizens who are awaiting deportation to employees and contractors of civil immigration services. They act according to different rules and often have language skills and experience needed for work.
In Guantánam, military guards and naval doctors who work in war prison and court are trained for a certain mission of military police: housing and care for long -term detainees from the war against terrorism. These are older men who have been in Guantánam for 17 years or longer. Military prison guards and naval doctors are now taking care of dozens of younger, Spanish men from immigration detention facilities acting according to different rules.
Also, some of the migrants are kept in what could be called a double military custody on a hard -to -reach base, whose approach is controlled by the Navy commander.
Men who are profiled as “illegal aliens of high threats” are held in a prison building, which until recently held suspected of Qaeda. This building is in a special security zone for war detention operations, whose approach is controlled by a military colonel responding to the US South Command.
Do we know how much this will cost?
No, but it will be expensive. The tents and cribs were already in a warehouse in Guantánam, in the case of a humanitarian crisis in the Caribbean. But most provisions, including drinking water palettes, will have to move to the base.
Prison and court functions for war against terrorism cost $ 1 billion since 2002. This worked at $ 13 million per prisoner a year, according to a 2019 study, including court costs.
But this surgery has more fixed costs, with the troops arrived at scheduled rotations on the charter aircraft and located in a barracks built for prison guard.
Now the Pentagon has increased the air mission in the base using the C-17 and other expensive aircraft, and will have to mobilize, place and train more forces for a new mission.
Is this all part of the message exchange strategy?
Certainly, photographs of men in the shackles filled on cargo planes to Guantánamo Gulf can send messages.
Foreigners can turn away from illegal move to the United States for fear of ending up in Guantánam. Trump’s supporters can also see that the operation fulfills the promise the president in his first campaign for loading cells in Guantánam with “bad guys”.
Legal challenges have begun.
