According to a CNN report on Monday, citing a U.S. government official and one source, the Trump administration has halted housing deported immigrants in tent structures at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.
This decision appears to have been made due to mounting criticism that housing deported immigrants in these makeshift tent structures, which lack air conditioning and electricity, violates established regulations.
Shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump took office, the U.S. began large-scale arrests and deportation procedures for illegal immigrants and convicted permanent residents.
Facilities to accommodate these individuals were also established at the Guantanamo base.
Although tents have been discontinued, these immigrants have not been released.
Instead, those previously housed at Guantanamo have been redistributed between the detention facility and the Immigration Operations Center (MOC).
The Trump administration had previously announced plans to relocate 30,000 individuals from the southern border to tent structures at Guantanamo.
However, sources indicate that these tents fail to meet the detention facility standards of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). They also noted that the number of immigrants transferred has not been enough to justify the installation of additional tents.
The challenges in housing immigrants at Guantanamo highlight the confusion stemming from Trump’s January directives.
Furthermore, there is reported infighting between departments over the management of immigrant deportation, making it unclear who is responsible for these individuals.
Meanwhile, CNN reported that over 170 immigrants previously housed at Guantanamo departed for Venezuela last week, leaving the immigrant housing facilities at the base nearly empty.
