Rights groups demand access to migrants transferred to Guantanamo
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Immigrant rights groups, including the ACLU, have called on the Trump administration to grant immediate access to migrants recently transferred to Guantanamo Bay.
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In this photo reviewed by the US military, the sun rises above Camp Delta at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba, on Nov. 20, 2013. (AP)
Immigrant rights groups, notably the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), have written to the Trump administration, requesting immediate access to immigrants recently transferred to Guantanamo Bay.
Around 200 Marines and soldiers arrived at Guantanamo Bay over the weekend to enhance security and start establishing a new tent city for migrants, as officials follow President Donald Trump’s directive to prepare the Navy base for up to 30,000 deportees.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that 7,400 arrests have been made over nine days only. However, federal officials failed to provide details for thousands of cases, particularly the alleged crimes the migrants have supposedly committed.
Although ICE and the White House claimed further information would be published, only 80 cases were disclosed. Charges include immigration violations, assaults, crimes involving children, and drug and weapons charges, as per revisions by The New York Times.
Located near the southeastern tip of the Cuban island, Guantanamo is infamous for its US detention facilities, shrouded in secrecy and associated with grave human rights violations.
"The Constitution, and federal and international law prohibit the government from using Guantánamo as a legal black hole," according to the letter.
"We thus seek that the government grants our groups access to the noncitizens incarcerated at Guantánamo so that those persons have access to legal counsel and advocates and the public may have clarity regarding the conditions under which the government is keeping them," it continued.
The letter comes ahead of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's planned visit to Guantanamo on Friday.
Lee Gelernt, ACLU deputy director of the immigrants' rights project, stated that it is "unlawful for our government to use Guantanamo as a legal black hole, yet that is exactly what the Trump administration is doing."
