Trump’s executive order instructs the Departments of Defense to prepare a 30,000 person migrant facility at Guantanamo Bay.
Hello Guantanamo Bay
Please note Trump Says Will Use Guantanamo Bay To Detain Illegal Migrants
US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he planned to detain “criminal illegal aliens” at the notorious Guantanamo Bay military prison, used for holding terrorism suspects since the 9/11 attacks.
Trump made the shock announcement as he signed a bill allowing the pre-trial detention of undocumented migrants charged with theft and violent crime — named after a US student killed by a Venezuelan immigrant.
He said he was signing an executive order instructing the Pentagon and the Homeland Security department to “begin preparing the 30,000-person migrant facility at Guantanamo Bay,” Trump said at the White House.
“We have 30,000 beds in Guantanamo to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people. Some of them are so bad we don’t even trust the countries to hold them, because we don’t want them coming back,” Trump said.
The Republican said the move would “double our capacity immediately” to hold illegal migrants, amid a huge crackdown that he has promised at the start of his second term.
Calling Guantanamo a “tough place to get out of,” Trump said the measures announced on Wednesday would “bring us one step closer to eradicating the scourge of migrant crime in our communities once and for all.”
It has been used to indefinitely hold detainees, many of whom were never charged with a crime, seized during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and other operations that followed.
At its peak about 800 people were incarcerated at the site on the eastern tip of Cuba. Testimony from detainees documenting their abuse and torture by US security personnel have long prompted domestic and international criticism.
Former Democratic presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama both pledged to close the facility, but both left office with the prison still open.
Free Torture Too?
Does this executive order come complete with free torture?
Regardless, I fail to see how this action is legal, but legality hardly seems to matter anymore.
We will soon find out on legality because there is sure to be a court challenge to this executive order.
I suspect this EO will be shot down quickly, but we will see what sticks and what doesn’t.
If the courts uphold this action, here’s the upside: Democrats will scramble to cut an immigration deal with Trump, and Trump’s terms will be harder.
This threat, even if it doesn’t stick, will accelerate a movement towards a deal. But does the end justify the means?
Understanding Trump’s Rationale
- Governments will take them back so they don’t rot in a prison in Cuba.
- Force Democrats to the negotiation table quickly.
Medicaid Funding Chaos, Judge Blocks Trump’s Federal Payment Freeze
Yesterday, I noted Medicaid Funding Chaos, Judge Blocks Trump’s Federal Payment Freeze
Trump sought to pause billions of dollars in federal assistance. Payment systems froze.
Today, Trump backed down and rescinded his executive order.
The two-line memo sent just after noon by Matthew J. Vaeth, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, said the previous memorandum “is rescinded.
Addendum: What About the US Lease?
Somehow it seem to me that holding illegal immigrants has nothing to do with coaling or naval station.
The lease treaty agreed to from February 16–23, 1903 stipulates that the Republic of Cuba lease to the United States specific lands in Cuba, notably the land that surrounds Guantánamo Bay, for the purpose of coaling and naval stations, for as long as necessary.
The Cuban-American Treaty of Relations of 1934 replaced the Cuban–American Treaty of Relations (1903) in which Cuba committed to: not permit a foreign power to obtain a naval base on the island. not go into excessive debt. grant the US the right to intervene in Cuba for the maintenance of (an adequate) government.