President Donald Trump, who made the deportation of immigrants of his campaign and presidency, said Wednesday that the U.S. will use a detention center at , to hold tens of thousands of the 鈥渨orst criminal aliens.鈥�
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to send them out to Guant谩namo,鈥� Trump said at the signing of the .
He later signed a presidential memorandum and said he鈥檇 direct federal officials to get facilities ready to receive criminal immigrants in the US illegally. Border czar Tom Homan said U.S. would run the facility. Still, details of the plan weren't immediately clear.
Here's a look at the U.S. naval base, widely known as 鈥淕itmo,鈥� and its history:
How does the US government use the base at Guant谩namo Bay?
While the U.S. naval base in Cuba is best known for the suspects brought in after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, it has a small, separate facility used for decades to hold migrants.
The Migrant Operations Center is used for people intercepted trying to illegally reach the U.S. by boat. Most are from Haiti and Cuba.
The center takes up a tiny part of the base, includes just a handful of buildings and has nowhere near the capacity to house the 30,000 people Trump said could be sent there.
"We're just going to expand upon that existing migrant center, Homan told reporters.
The migrant detention center operates separately from the military's detention center and courtrooms for foreigners detained under President George W. Bush during what that administration called its 鈥渨ar on terror.鈥� That facility houses 15 detainees, including accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. That's down from its peak of nearly 800.
Who will be held at Guant谩namo?
The migrant detention facilities at Guant谩namo will be used for 鈥渢he worst of the worst,鈥� administration officials said.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Homan both used the phrase when speaking to reporters outside the White House.
A White House statement was less specific, saying the expanded facility would 鈥減rovide additional detention space for high-priority criminal aliens unlawfully present in the United States, and to address attendant immigration enforcement needs.鈥�
An administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren鈥檛 authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said it would be used to house 鈥渄angerous criminals鈥� and people who are 鈥渉ard to deport.鈥�
A number of countries refuse to accept some immigrants the U.S. tries to deport.
Trump has repeatedly spoken about the dangers Americans face from the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. While immigrants are regularly charged with committing major crimes, they are a tiny percentage of the overall population. Peer-reviewed academic studies have generally found no link between immigration and violent crime, though conclusions vary.
What else is known about the Migrant Operations Center?
Not much. The nonprofit International Refugee Assistance Project said in a report last year that people are held in 鈥減rison-like鈥� conditions. It said they were 鈥渢rapped in a punitive system鈥� indefinitely, with no accountability for the officials running it.
Deepa Alagesan, a senior supervising attorney with the group, said Wednesday that they believed it is used to hold a small number of people 鈥� 鈥渋n the double digits,鈥� she estimated.
The prospect of using it for far more immigrants worried her.
鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely a scary prospect,鈥� she said.
Does the U.S. have sufficient detention space for Trump's plans?
Trump has vowed to deport millions of people living illegally in the U.S., but the current Immigration and Customs Enforcement budget only has enough funds to detain .
ICE detains immigrants at its processing centers and privately operated detention facilities, along with local prisons and jails. It has no facilities geared toward the detention of families, who account for roughly one-third of arrivals on the southern U.S. border.
During Trump鈥檚 first term, he . In 2014, then-President Barack Obama temporarily relied on military bases to detain immigrant children while ramping up privately operated family detention centers to hold many of the tens of thousands of Central American families caught illegally crossing the border.
U.S. military bases have been used repeatedly since the 1970s to accommodate the resettlement of waves of immigrants fleeing Vietnam, Cuba, Haiti, Kosovo and Afghanistan.
What do lawyers in Sept. 11 cases say?
The decision to send immigrants to Guant谩namo 鈥渟hould horrify us all,鈥� said a legal advocacy group that since the Sept. 11 attacks has represented dozens of men detained at the base.
Trump鈥檚 order 鈥渟ends a clear message: migrants and asylum seekers are being cast as the new terrorist threat, deserving to be discarded in an island prison, removed from legal and social services and supports,鈥� Vince Warren, the executive director of the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, said in a statement.
What is the reaction in Cuba?
The U.S. has leased Guant谩namo from Cuba for more than a century. Cuba opposes the lease and typically rejects the nominal U.S. rent payments.
Government officials criticized the news Wednesday, with President Miguel D铆az-Canel deeming the decision 鈥渁n act of brutality鈥� on X and describing the base as 鈥渓ocated in illegally occupied #Cuba territory.鈥�
Foreign Minister Bruno Rodr铆guez said on X, 鈥淭he US government鈥檚 decision to imprison migrants at the Guant谩namo Naval Base, in an enclave where it created torture and indefinite detention centers, shows contempt for the human condition and international law.鈥�
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Associated Press writers Rebecca Santana and Ellen Knickmeyer contributed from Washington.
Tim Sullivan, The Associated Press
