Guantánamo Bay served as home for the most notorious criminals who put America in their crosshairs, but it will soon become home to thousands of migrants awaiting deportation and now a massive surge in staffing and supplies is underway to prepare the facility.
The U.S. Navy base in Cuba has been ordered by President Donald Trump to prepare to house as many as 30,000 migrants as he ramps up efforts to fulfill campaign promises and deport millions of migrants from inside the U.S.
Since September 11, the base has served as a prison for terrorists including 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. However, recent reports show that most people held at the prison were low-level fighters. The base previously held some migrants - mostly those caught at seas trying to reach the U.S. - with beds for 120 people. Now, that figure will jump.
Staffing and supplies are being rushed to the area to help support the influx of migrants coming in, according to the New York Times. That includes more than 300 military members who have arrived and the construction of a tent city to hold migrants awaiting deportation.
Migrants flights to Guantánamo Bay have already started this week, according to reports.
More than four dozen tents for migrants were set up in a fenced-in area away from the notorious detention center. The tents are adjacent to a barracks-style building dubbed the “Migrant Operations Center,” according to the Times.
Military leaders declined to comment on the current capacity of the facility or specific plans to support the operation, according to the Times.
Typically, the base has about 4,200 residents. Water, frozen food, school supplies, military vehicles and other goods arrive twice a month by barge, according to the report. Fresh fruits and vegetables come once a week via a refrigerator flight. Those rates will likely increase with the influx of migrants.
So will staffing that is needed to support the mission. On Saturday, about 50 Marines arrived with another 50 reporting on Sunday, according to the Times.
One unnamed official told the Associated Press that roughly 500 Marines will head to Guantánamo. Additionally, military police from the New York National Guard are expected to be trained at Fort Bliss in Texas before heading to Guantánamo for a nine-month mission, the Times reported.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called Guantánamo the “perfect place” to provide for migrants as well as “hardened criminals” during remarks last week.
Major General Michael Lehnert, a Marine who opened the prison in 2002, told the New York Times that carrying out Trump’s order would be a massive undertaking.
Though it may be well-remembered for its notorious prison, Guantánamo Bay has a long history of supporting migrants. In the mid-1990s, 25,000 Cuban and Haitian migrants lived in tent cities around the military base.
Lehnert told the Times at one time the military base was so overwhelmed with migrants that some tents had to be pitched on the golf course. It reached a number so high the Navy school closed and service member families were evacuated to the U.S. mainland for a few months.
Back then, migrants were housed in groups of about 1,500 per tent encampment and were guarded by 200 troops for basic security. There was also a group to respond in case of unrest at the camps.
It is not yet clear if the Department of Homeland Security or the military would handle the newest migrant arrivals at the site. It is also unclear where the money is coming from to support the expanded operations, the Times noted.
