The Trump administration relocated all of the Venezuelan immigrants he brought to a US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on Thursday, suddenly emptying a detention operation that it launched in the same way. this month.
Two passenger seats run by charter aircraft company Global X flew to naval bases Thursday morning, closing most of the migrants to airfields in Honduras. They were then to board a Venezuelan plane to repatriate.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, said 177 migrants have been transferred to custody in Venezuela and one has been brought back to immigration facilities in the US. In a declaration filed in court early Thursday, immigration and customs enforcement officials said 178 Venezuelans were on the base.
It was unclear whether the administration intended to send additional immigrants to the base.
However, Ice official Juan E. Agudero said in court on Thursday that the immigration agency intended to use Guantanamo “as a temporary staging facility for aliens being repatriated.” He stated, “They said they would be detained there for the time they needed. Deletion orders.”
The relocation was when the operation raised numerous questions about whether the government had legitimate legal authority to take it from US ice facilities to Cuban bases for ongoing detention. I've put it away. Immigration rights lawyers have gone to court to seek access to immigration, and rights groups are expected to present broader challenges to Trump administration policies.
“The way to avoid truing,” says Harold Hongju Ko, a professor at Yale Law School who worked as a lawyer for the State Department during the Obama administration, who has long been in lawsuits against Guantanamo detainees. I've been involved in this. He added, “The property is nine tenths of the law.”
According to a statement from Honduras, sales came at Soto Kano Air Force Base.
The Honduras government said it is promoting relocation for what it described as humanitarian reasons.
On January 29, Trump instructed the US military and the Department of Homeland Security to prepare to expand the Center for Immigration Operations in Guantanamo Bay, adding “added to high-priority criminal aliens illegally present in the United States.” “It will provide detention space for the company.” ”
The military began transporting immigrants to bases on daily flights near the El Paso immigration site from February 4th. They can be transported to their country of origin or other appropriate destination. ”
All the migrants that have taken to Guantanamo to date have been citizens of Venezuela. With the collapse of the relationship between the authoritarian government and the United States, it was difficult to expel people into the country.
However, Trump's advisor Richard Grenell visited Venezuela in late January and appeared to have achieved a diplomatic breakthrough. This included an agreement that Venezuela would resume accepting retirees. On February 10, Venezuela sent two planes to El Paso, welcoming about 190 citizens, which the Department of Homeland Security explained under the final deportation order.
Speaking on TV on Thursday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro explained the “177 men we rescued” victory for his government, and the outcome of the “direct petition” his government went to the United States. He explained that he did so.
Maduro said his widely seen home minister Diosdado Cabello, Venezuela, is a leading orchestrator and will meet returnees at the airport as a symbol of national repression. “In Venezuela, we welcome them with a loving embrace as a productive force,” Maduro said.
It was not clear why the Venezuelans were taken to Guantanamo as flights resumed.
Trump administration officials initially portrayed immigrants who were taken to Guantanamo as members of the Tren de Aragua gang. This was included in the list of cartels and gangs that the government, designated as a foreign terrorist organisation on Thursday, by the State Department.
However, it is not clear whether that applies to either immigration. Congressional staff were explained that the only criteria sent to the base were Venezuelans, and in the final removal order they were Venezuelans.
As of Wednesday, Homeland Security spokesperson McLaughlin had simply said that Ice would use Guantanamo to “contain detainees who are subject to the final removal order.” She also called them “final order aliens.”
Luis Castillo, 29, was one of the Venezuelans held at Guantanamo. According to his family, he left Venezuela for financial reasons several years ago and tried to make a living in Colombia – he worked to wash his car and ultimately more to support his family He left the US hoping to make money. Young son.
His sister, Yajairah Castillo, said he introduced himself at the US border on January 19 to claim asylum, was detained and sent to Guantanamo.
When she heard he was being sent back to Venezuela, she said she mixed the emotions. She's glad he was released. But she was saddened by this cruelty they inflicted on our Venezuelans by keeping their brothers and others in Guantanamo. She and the other family members of the detainees connected in whatsapp group, where they comforted each other. “They made us so much,” she said.
McLaughlin says that Castillo is part of Tren de Aragua, but she has not provided evidence. Castillo's family claims he is not a criminal and was portrayed as a gang member due to Michael Jordan's tattoo on his neck.
In a lawsuit seeking legal access to immigrants named Castillo, the government has allowed the courts to call lawyers on Monday, saying, “The backup access process is the same as others.” It was developed for this.” facility. “
However, the Department of Justice also claims that immigrants are “limited rights” as “immigrant detainees with final removal orders, staged for final transfer, and amid the removal operation.” He urged the judges not to demand broad access.
The Trump administration has increased the chances of ultimately housing tens of thousands of immigrants at the base. With the policy's future unclear, Lee Gererund of the American Civil Liberties Union, the lead lawyer for the immigration rights group seeking access to immigration in Guantanamo, said the fight was not over.
“The government says it's saying that detainees can only be accessed once they move them. It's baffling at best,” he said. If the government is trying to silently put the lawsuit, he added, “They won't succeed.”
Eric Schmidt contributed to the report from Washington and Albert Sun in New York.
