US Migration: Trump is preparing a prison camp for migrants at Guantanamo

Handelsblatt US Migration: Trump is preparing a prison camp for migrants at Guantanamo Kempter, Victoria , Reuters • 6 hours • 2 minutes reading time Up to 30,000 migrants classified as dangerous are to be detained at the US naval base in Guantanamo - a drastic step in his tough immigration policy. US President Donald Trump wants to set up a prison camp with space for up to 30,000 migrants at the US naval base in Guantanamo in Cuba. The facility should be used to "detain the worst criminal illegal immigrants who threaten the American people," Trump said on Wednesday in Washington. Some of them are so bad that the US does not even trust the countries that have to take them back. But they do not want them to come back. "So we're going to send them to Guantanamo." Trump's border protection commissioner Tom Homan said the center would be used for the "worst of the worst." The government would expand the existing facility there. The decision is part of Trump's approach to migrants. The US military had already deportation flights in the first few days after he took office. In addition, more than 1,600 soldiers were sent to the US border with Mexico after Trump signed an emergency declaration on immigration. "We had an election in November that clearly stated that the American people no longer want these criminal and dangerous people on our streets," said Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. The law applies to everyone: "American citizens as well as people who come into the country illegally," she said. "They will be held accountable if they break our laws." There is already a facility for migrants at Guantanamo. "So we're just going to expand the existing migrant center," Homan said. He announced that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would operate the center. "ICE has the highest detention standards in the industry," he said, whether federal, state or local. "So any facility, including GITMO, will meet the highest standards." The existing immigration center is separate from the maximum security prison for foreign terrorism suspects. The Guantanamo Bay detention camp was established in 2002 by then-US President George W. Bush to detain foreign militant suspects after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. There are still 15 inmates in the prison. Former US Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden have repeatedly stated that they want to close the prison. Ultimately, however, they were only able to reduce the number of inmates. The prison conditions, allegations of torture and the prisoners' widespread lack of rights also sparked outrage in the USA. Guantanamo became a symbol worldwide of the USA's early excesses in the "war on terror".