Although the Trump administration has, said it would transfer dangerous criminals and suspected gang members to Guantanamo Bay, it is also sending nonviolent, “low risk” migrant detainees without criminal records there, according to two US officials and internal government documents.
CBS News reports that President Trump had said his administration would send the “worst” migrants and “high-priority criminal aliens” to the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
In addition to sending those with criminal records or suspected or those with gang ties – classified as “high risk” detainees – US officials have also transported migrants deemed to be “low risk” to Guantanamo, according to government documents obtained by CBS News. More low-risk migrants are expected to be transported on Wednesday, alongside high-risk detainees, the documents show.
While the high-risk migrants have been detained in cells at Guantanamo’s maximum-security prison, the low-risk detainees have been placed in a barrack-like facility known as the Migrant Operations Centre that includes rooms with restrooms, according to the documents and one of the US officials who required anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
The move reinforces a message the administration has communicated repeatedly: no one who is in the US illegally will be shielded from detention and eventual deportation, even if they lack criminal records.
