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WASHINGTON – A senator visited a US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the Trump administration flew hundreds of migrants to deport him.
“Stop this misguided mission right away.”
The senator’s delegation — four Democrats and one independent — said they were angry that they needed to fly to Cuba on Friday to answer questions they’d been asking executive officials for months.
“After investigating immigration relocation activities in Guantanamo Bay, we are furious at the scale and waste of the Trump administration’s military misuse,” the senator wrote. “It is clear that Guantanamo Bay is likely to be an illegal and certainly an illogical place for detaining immigrants. Its use appears to be designed to undermine legitimate procedures and avoid legal scrutiny.”
Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif) said his biggest takeaway was that the administration did not properly prepare for the operation and that the costs to taxpayers were “huge.”
“It was like a ready-made, aimed approach to this whole thing,” he said.
In an interview with the Times, Padilla said the authorities couldn’t properly explain why immigrants had to be held in Guantanamo.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Guantanamo is best known for harboring the suspected terrorist and the mastermind behind the September 11 attack, but some of the migrants held there are classified as “low-level” detainees.
“We asked repeatedly. You’re going to tell me that there’s no space across the 48 states of the US. [around 40 low-level detainees]? “Padilla added that Trump’s detention and deportation operations are problematic.
Padilla traveled to Guantanamo with Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, a top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and a top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee. Senator Gary Peters of Michigan, a top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee. Sen. Angus King of Maine, a senior member of the Armed Worship Committee;
The delegation was led by Peters. Wang, an independent party member from the Democrats.
Padilla is a member of the Judiciary Committee and chairs the Immigration Subcommittee.
Upon arriving Friday, the senator was briefed by a Homeland Security Officer, an Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent, and Navy officials. They visited three sites: lower-level detainees, high-level detainees and the last 15 suspicious foreign terrorists held in connection with the 9/11 attacks.
As of Friday, 87 immigrants were held at facilities primarily from Latin American countries. 42 people are in the immigration operations center dormitory, and 45 people are 45 people in camp 6 in another part of the base. Camp 6 is a medium security military prison.
On March 11, the Trump administration returned 40 immigrants to the United States, held in Guantanamo. This is a few days before a court hearing in a pair of lawsuits that challenge whether it is legal to retain detainees for the purposes of civil immigration.
A U.S. District Court judge in Washington, D.C. refused to stop the administration from sending more immigrants to Guantanamo. The administration then began sending more immigrants there.
The Trump administration widely portrays immigrants sent to Guantanamo as dangerous, but many did not claim that U.S. authorities had no criminal history.
President Trump issued an executive order in January to expand the Center for Immigration Operations to “full capacity.” He proposed that 30,000 immigrants could be accommodated on the base.
In a question from the senator on Friday, Padilla said what the authorities are doing to meet the minimum standards for detention conditions and what standards are they aiming to meet, including those relating to the Navy and ice. There was no clear response, he said.
“Many of them seemed to be a very ongoing work because this is unique in that it is an ice mission in foreign locations,” he said. “That in itself is very concerning because there is no clear authority over what they are doing at Guantanamo.”
Sometimes, Padilla said the authorities gave contradictory information. For example, he said the answer to some questions is “depends on their beliefs.” However, Padilla pointed out that some detainees have not been found guilty of anything and are being held on the basis of arrest or charges.
Padilla said authorities continue to describe immigrants using the phrase “worst and worst.”
“If they’re the worst and worst, they should all be in the category of risk or violent offenders,” he said.
Padilla said officials “do everything they could” to prevent visitors from talking to detainees. He said he managed to ask several detainees held in the low-level area when they arrived, and they told him Thursday.
The detainees were unable to access the phone. Padilla said officials are aware of the need and plan to ship the equipment to accommodate calls from private lawyers. He viewed it as a sign of lack of preparation.
Padilla said some detainees are afraid that they will be deported to their country due to lack of access to lawyers and face persecution or death.
Some officials expressed dissatisfaction with the ever-evolving operational instructions, Padilla said. The military told him they had received a brief notice before being transferred to Guantanamo.
These moves lack important missions, Padilla said.
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