Trump plan to house migrants at Guantanamo Bay faces mounting hurdles, internal doubts

President Donald Trump’s effort to transfer migrants from the United States to the Naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba is being buffeted by concerns inside and outside his administration.

President Donald Trump’s high-profile effort to transfer migrants from the United States to the Naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba is being buffeted by concerns inside and outside his administration over living conditions there and the arduous, expensive process of making it a suitable site for deportees. Last month, the administration took the unprecedented step of sending migrants to Guantanamo Bay on US military aircraft, sparking fierce backlash from immigrant advocates and prompting a lawsuit from immigrant advocacy groups. The last flight by military aircraft to Guantanamo Bay was March 1, a US official told CNN, and there are no DOD flights to the base expected in the coming days. As of Thursday, there were no migrants detained at the Naval base, and 40 people were flown back to the US this week, the official said. CNN reported in February that plans to house migrants in tents were being halted amid concerns the structures didn’t meet detention standards required by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. On Friday, a federal judge will hear a case concerning the use of the facility, stemming from a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, along with other immigrant advocacy groups. The lawsuit calls into question whether immigrants can legally be transferred from the US to Guantanamo. It also raises concerns over detainees’ living conditions and their limited to no access to counsel. Amid those stumbles, the administration has already spent roughly $16 million on the operation, according to Democrat Rep. Sara Jacobs, who visited the base last week as part of a congressional delegation visit. “What we saw really was that there is very low capacity there, and it’s really expensive, and I could see no operational reasons for using Guantanamo Bay for immigration detention,” Jacobs told CNN. “It was clearly just because Donald Trump liked the optics.”