The Trump administration has set a broad rule out which outlines which immigrants can hold, according to the administration memo obtained by CBS News. In Guantanamo Bayallowing officials to commit the “worst” criminal oath at naval bases, but allowing officials to send non-criminal detainees.
As part of his active crackdown on immigration, President Trump instructed officials in late January to convert facilities within the Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to places where immigrants reside in the country illegally. At that time, Mr. Trump Say “worst” immigrants It will be held at the base, instructing officials to make room for “high priority crime foreigners.”
However, an undisclosed agreement between the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense shows that the Trump administration has made extensive discretion to officials to decide Who sent it to Guantanamo Baythe enactment criteria are not based on the criminal history or the severity of the conduct of the detainee. In fact, the memorandum does not mention any criminal assessments. [Read the full memo at the bottom of this story.]
Instead, the agreement was signed on March 7 by DHS and Pentagon officials and said the department agreed to use Guantanamo base to detain migrants who were eventually deported, which “has a link to transnational criminal organization (TCO) or criminal drug activities.”
Officials define “Nexus” in a broad sense. The memo said that if the immigrants who ended up being deported were part of a transnational criminal group, or they paid for a “smuggled into the United States”, the contact could be met. The latter condition can be used to describe many immigrants and asylum seekers illegally crossing the southern U.S. border, as Mexico’s criminal groups have largely controlled illegal movements for people and drugs there.
The document says immigrants with excessive visas are not eligible to be sent to Guantanamo Bay. But if the nature of immigration is not yet clear, the memorandum allows officials to assume that the person pays criminal groups to enter the U.S. and sends it to Guantanamo if they “go from a country that “foreigners who enter the U.S. in this way” enter the U.S..”
As outlined in this memorandum, the conditions for transferring immigrants to Guantanamo appear to be inconsistent with Mr. Trump’s statement and the statements of senior members of his administration that suggest that the base will be used as a detention site for dangerous offenders.
Theresa Cardinal Brown, a former U.S. immigration official during the presidency of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, said the memorandum rules “applicable very broadly to any immigrant who comes to the United States through the U.S.-Mexico border.”
“It is known that almost every immigrant entering the U.S.-Mexico border must pay some kind of money to the cartels that control the Mexican side of the territory,” she said.
Cardinal Brown added that the rules do not appear to include “any personalized assessment” to determine whether an immigrant detainee poses a threat before transferring it to Guantanamo.
Department of Defense spokeswoman Kingsley Wilson confirmed the existence of the memorandum and said “the cooperation between the Department of Defense and the DHS has been strengthened by clarifying roles and responsibilities and promoting efficient and coordinated operations of the Navy Station Guantanamo Bay.”
CBS News and Homeland Security representatives approached comments.
Operation Guantanamo is not the only Trump administration’s immigration efforts facing censorship Who is it Has become a target. For example, in mid-March, the government deported 238 Venezuelans to El Salvador, so they could be imprisoned Notorious large prison. The Trump administration says they are all criminals and gang members, but “60 Minutes” Survey No criminal record of 75% of Venezuelan deportation was found.
High-profile but largely secretive action
The Trump administration first began sending immigrants to Guantanamo in February, where it initially moved Venezuelans only, including those accused of having ties to the Tren de Alaguya prison gang. The first group of Venezuelan detainees was eventually flew to Honduras, where the Venezuelan government picked them up so they could be transported home.
Since then, the government has flew immigrants sporadically from different countries to bases and then transferred them back to the United States or other countries. Government officials regularly touted flights to Guantanamo, but provided details about the operation, including costs and those eligible to be sent to the base.
Publicly disclosed content, By CBS News There are other media outlets where officials have transferred detainees deemed “high threat” and “low risk” to Guantanamo, including immigrants, whose relatives have denied allegations of gang members and crime.
Government guidelines define immigrant detainees as posing a “high” threat if they have a violent or serious criminal record, a history of destructive behavior, or so-called gang links. Low-risk detainees are defined as immigrants facing deportation because they are illegal in the United States but lack any serious criminal record – or no criminal record at all.
Those sent to Guantanamo are considered “high threat” immigrants, held in a part of the post-9/11 prison Terrorism suspect. Immigrant detainees deemed to pose a “low” risk have been transferred to the base’s Immigration Operations Center, a military camp-like facility that historically intercepted asylum seekers at sea.
Department of Defense spokesman Wilson said 42 immigrants are currently being detained in Guantanamo, including 32 placed at Immigration Operations Center and 10 so-called “high threat” detainees.
The March 7 memorandum obtained by CBS News clarifies other operating aspects of Guantanamo. For example, it confirmed that immigrant detainees transported there are still under the legal custody of immigration and customs enforcement, although the military is providing facilities to its detention.
As part of the agreement, the Department of Homeland Security also accepted the conditions of the Sixth Battalion, while the Immigration Operations Center was sufficient to accommodate adults, noting that it would not transfer children to the base. The department agreed to send ice officers or contractors to the base, including overseeing the security of the Immigration Action Center.
The memorandum puts the Department of Homeland Security in charge of providing detainee services such as recreation and religious accommodation; determines whether immigrants can contact lawyers; and conducts “involuntary medical care”, such as force during a hunger strike.
The agreement also accused the DHS authorities of overseeing the transfer of detainees from Guantanamo and Guantanamo, requiring the department to move immigrants from bases no more than 180 days after issuing the deportation.
The agreement stipulates that the army is primarily responsible for providing security around the VI battalion and facilities. It also agreed to provide toilets and sanitation facilities, as well as medical services to ice sub-district personnel and detained immigrants.
The memorandum said the Department of Defense is committed to establishing tents at the base to possess other detainees, although these locations have not been used to detain immigrants. However, the agreement states that these tents “have no power, lighting or heating/air conditioning.”
The effort to hold immigration in Guantanamo faces legal challenges from advocates, including in the ACLU, the Trump administration’s chief rival in federal court.
The ACLU alleged in court documents that the immigrants were originally held in Guantanamo and had no close relatives or lawyers. The government then said that measures have been taken to get immigration detainees into contact with lawyers.
The ACLU also described Guantanamo’s detention conditions as pathetic, citing immigration statements held there. In one of the statements, a Venezuelan man who was previously held at the base said he had gone on a hunger strike after feeling he was “kidnapped.”
Stephen Miller, deputy land vice president of the Trump administration’s immigration agenda, said earlier this week that there are no plans to stop using Guantanamo to detain immigrants.
“It’s open,” Miller said on Fox News. “Gitmo is open.”
Read the memo below:
Eleanor Watson contributed to the report.
Camilo Montoya-Galvez
