The Trump administration suddenly cleared the second immigrant group that it brought to a US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, returning to the 40 men who flew there in the past few weeks, according to officials familiar with the issue.
The government has not announced that the man had been relocated to one or more immigration customs enforcement facilities in Louisiana, and the reasons for the move were not clear. But officials familiar with the issue said it happened Tuesday as they spoke to discuss sensitive issues regarding the terms of anonymity.
The move comes just days before a judge in the U.S. District Court in Washington hears a major challenge to the policy aspects.
It's a costly and time-consuming movement that led the people to Guantanamo Bay and bring them in just to eliminate them in a few weeks.
In late February, the administration suddenly emptied two detention sites the government used to host 177 Venezuelans flying out of the United States, including a military prison building that was previously used to hold terrorist detainees.
However, when they moved those detainees on February 20, the administration repatriated the migrants to custody of their hometown government. This time, the man said he was taken to the international airport in Alexandria, Louisiana.
The Department of Homeland Security press did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Central Louisiana airports serve military and charter flights and have emerged as hubs for immigration detention activities. ICE sent about 100 immigrants from Guantanamo on March 2nd. One of them was sent to the Pine Prairie Processing Center, about an hour south of the airport.
The prominent pro-Palestinian activist who the Trump administration arrested in New York was taken to another ice facility in Louisiana about an hour north of the airport. The administration is trying to expel activist Mahmoud Khalil as he helped lead an anti-Israel protest at Columbia University. His lawsuit has attracted attention because he was a permanent legal resident and attempting to deport him raised the issue of taste.
As part of a broader effort to carry out a massive deportation, President Trump has ordered the defense and homeland security departments to prepare to send immigrants to Guantanamo in the week after he took office. As of Friday, 290 immigrants from 27 countries have circulated through the bases, according to court filings this week.
The administration threw prisons as good holding facilities for detainees deemed dangerous, like the Venezuelans portrayed as part of Tren de Aragua, a gangster the administration designated as a foreign terrorist organization.
The government has not provided evidence that the Venezuelans who spent time at Camp 6 before being repatriated last month are members of the gang. Most people whose identity is known have no criminal history in the United States.
Anyway, the administration has yet to provide a detailed explanation to temporarily send immigrants to Guantanamo, including those not accused of being members of a dangerous gang.
As of Friday, the court filing said 17 migrants were detained in a moderate security facility, a dorm-style building opposite the wartime prison base, with 23 people at Camp 6.
A separate court filed this week, a declaration by the Army officer in charge, Lt. Col. Robert Greene provided details on how detainees were treated at Camp 6. ICE staff said they are watching the US military conduct strip searches for migrants they have taken there as “terrifying illegal aliens.” He then said the immigrants will be tapped as they move out of the cell.
Colonel Greene admitted that the military was in a tense situation. On the 1st, before Venezuelans were deported, prison staff tied six migrants to restraint chairs or medical stretchers after each man took on a so-called episode of self-harm.
The Pentagon bought a restraining chair many years ago and tied up wartime detainees on a starving strike for forced feeding.
Civil Liberties and immigration rights groups have filed two lawsuits challenging Trump's policies. They are seeking a court order that will allow detainees to access lawyers, including in-person visits. Others are challenging the legality of such relocations and banning the government from sending 10 immigrants detained in US soil.
In both cases, they are assigned to Trump appointee Judge Carl J. Nichols, who is expected to hear the incident Friday afternoon. Prior to that conflict, the Justice Department filed a brief on Monday, claiming that the policy is legal under the Immigration and Naturalization Act.
Immigration law experts have questioned the legal basis for the business, claiming that the law does not allow the government to transfer people to the soil of other unrelated countries without consent. They said they are offering the authority to detain people outside the territory who appear to be excluded from Guantanamo.
However, the Department of Justice argued that the Immigration and Naturalization Act should be interpreted as providing power to operations. Among other things, the law states that the government can detain people in government facilities, and claims that the base is such a place. They also compared their detention to deportation flights landing in the central state to refuel before travelling to their final destination.
The declarations accompanying the department briefs opened a window to some of what happened at the base.
One described a system that allows detainees to call attorneys, according to Juan Lopez Vega, acting director of the execution and removal business at ICE's Miami Field Office, including Guantanamo. He also said that none of the 10 immigrants cited in the ACLU lawsuit had any immediate risk of being sent to Guantanamo and had promised not to move there until March 17th.
Another was said by Colonel Green that he had arrived in Guantanamo a month ago. He suggested that while the Department of Homeland Security has donated more staff to 1,000 workers' immigration operations than its earliest days, the military still plays a major part of the initiative's responsibility.
Camp 6 operates on a 12-hour shift, each using 28 soldiers, two ice agents, and seven to eight contractors paid by the agency, according to Colonel Green. In moderate security prisons, he said all security guards are ice officers or contractors.
Eric Schmidt and Hamed Areaziz Contributed with a report from Washington.
