CITIZENS of Britain are among the 9,000 migrants expected to be transferred to the infamous Guantanamo Bay under President Donald Trump’s plan to expand its notorious terror prison into a large detention site.
The first transfers are set to begin within a matter of days as the Trump administration dramatically ramps up its crackdown on illegal immigration.
At the beginning of the year, the US President declared his intentions to relocate up to 30,000 illegal immigrants to detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem informed reporters at the time that “the White House is currently working on [utilizing] resources we presently have in Guantanamo Bay” to boost the number of beds for “the worst of the worst.”
“We’re already doing it,” Noem said. “We’re building it out.”
The notorious Cuban camp was previously used as a military prison for those captured during George W Bush’s “war on terror” after the heinous 9/11 attacks.
This week alone, at least 9,000 people are being identified for a potential transfer to the prison as early as Wednesday, according to documents seen by Politico.
Roughly a whopping 800 Europeans are on the list of potential Guantanamo detainees – including British and French citizens, the Washington Post reports.
Currently roughly 500 migrants have been held at the jail dubbed “Gitmo” for short periods of time in the past few months.
According to the Trump administration, it works as a pit stop on the way to being deported to the country those being held came from.
The bombshell move represents the administration’s further toughening on immigration policy.
Critics say the Guantanamo threat works to deter new illegal immigrants from entering the US whilst also encouraging those already in the country to self-deport.
One State Department official told Politico: “The message is to shock and horrify people, to upset people – but we’re allies.”
But the deportation plans don’t come without legal challenges.
A court in Washington is considering a plea to outlaw the use of Guantanamo to house migrants as the American Civil Liberties Union claims they are being held in horrific conditions.
Detainees are apparently kept in a rat-infested camp, served inadequate food and denied the weekly change of clothing.
Detainees once endured sleep deprivation, waterboarding, and extreme temperature exposure as part of the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation” program.
One of the most infamous detainees, Abu Zubaydah, was waterboarded 83 times and kept in a coffin-sized box for hours on end.
While the camp once held nearly 800 suspected terrorists, that number has dwindled to just 15, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 terror attacks.
The last remaining detainees exist in a legal limbo, held indefinitely as the US struggles to either prosecute, transfer, or release them.
The ACLU accused the Trump administration of using Guantanamo “to frighten immigrants, deter future migration, induce self-deportation, and coerce people in detention to give up claims against removal and accept deportation elsewhere”.
The US Justice Department vehemently denied the claim, telling the court that Guantanamo is solely used as a temporary stop.
Nine Brit citizens were previously held in Guantanamo in 2004, of which five were repatriated.
And nine more people who had residency status in the UK but not citizenship were also held at the camp.
Trump’s border czar Tom Homan previously said the administration would expand the capacity of the hellhole facility.
He said: “We’re just going to expand upon that existing migrant center.”
Meanwhile Noem shared images of migrants arriving at the Guantanamo facility.
She wrote on social media: “President Donald Trump has been very clear: Guantanamo Bay will hold the worst of the worst.
“That starts today.”
The prison has cost US taxpayers over $6 billion to operate, with an annual budget of $540 million — roughly $13 million per prisoner.
A dedicated medical wing, staffed by doctors, psychiatrists, and even dentists, exists to prevent detainees from dying in custody, ensuring they remain locked away indefinitely.
What is Guantanamo Bay?
By Juliana Cruz Lima, Foreign News Reporter
GUANTANAMO Bay has long been synonymous with human rights abuses, indefinite detention, and controversial interrogation techniques.
First opened in 2002 by George W. Bush in the wake of 9/11, the high-security facility became a legal black hole.
There, suspects could be held without trial, subjected to brutal conditions, and interrogated using “enhanced techniques”—a euphemism for torture.
The prison complex, located on Cuban soil but under US control, is a fortress of isolation.
Guard towers loom over the razor-wire fences, motion-activated searchlights sweep the perimeter, and cameras monitor every inch of the facility.
Inside, detainees — most clad in orange jumpsuits — have spent decades in concrete cells measuring just 6.8 square feet, often with nothing but a thin mattress, a metal toilet, and a small slit for daylight.
Prisoners have been force-fed through nasal tubes during hunger strikes, shackled in stress positions for hours, and subjected to psychological torment.
Detainees once endured sleep deprivation, waterboarding, and extreme temperature exposure as part of the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation” program.
Prisoners are separated into camps based on their perceived threat level.
The most notorious detainees are housed in Camp 5 and Camp 7, which are maximum-security units where prisoners are kept in near-total isolation.
Others are held in Camp 6, where detainees live communally but are still closely monitored.
Camp X-Ray, the original makeshift site of the prison, was shuttered years ago, but its haunting images of hooded detainees kneeling behind barbed wire remain a symbol of Guantanamo’s dark legacy.
