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US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would order the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security to prepare a migrant facility at Guantanamo Bay for as many as 30,000 migrants.
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp, also known as GTMO, is a United States military prison within Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, on the coast of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Access to the military prison, best known for holding terror suspects, is rare.
Mr Stephen Kenny, a lawyer who has visited the Bay five times, said the situation was appalling. He told ABC that, “Initially they held the detainees in cages.
“They were effectively like dog pens, with a concrete floor, a corrugated iron roof and cyclone wire surrounds.”
Guantanamo Bay has drawn worldwide controversy over alleged torture and abuses of detainees. Previous US presidents have reduced inmates and sought to shut it down.
But Trump has vowed to keep it open and plans to send 30,000 migrants there.
The facilities were generally only designed for about 200 people.
Mr Kenny said, “I think there would be a need for considerable building work to be done before they can house 30,000 detainees there, unless they’re only held there for a very short period of time.”
Guantanamo Bay has long been condemned by human rights groups for alleged human rights violations, including the use of various forms of torture during interrogations.
Mr Kenny said, “They used advanced interrogation techniques like stripping people naked, chaining them to the floor and putting on the air conditioning, playing loud music and flashing lights.”
While Guantanamo Bay is best-known for its military prison, for decades it has also held migrants in a separate facility. Its Migrant Operation Centre is used for people intercepted trying to illegally reach the US by boat, most are from Cuba and Haiti.
The migrant centre is reported to have the capacity for about 130 detainees.
While signing an executive order to begin preparation to expand on the existing centre and create a 30,000-person migrant facility, Mr Trump said it would be used to “detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people”.
