Pentagon-
The United States has cleared the last of its detained immigrants from the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba and sent them back to the U.S. mainland to await deportation.
Two U.S. defense officials told VOA on Wednesday that 40 detainees, including 23 “high-risk illegal immigrants” held at the base’s detention center, were sent to Louisiana on Tuesday.
The officials, who requested anonymity to discuss the operation, said the detainees were transferred on a non-military aircraft at the direction of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials.
ICE and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), have not yet responded to requests for comment.
Last week, when asked for an update on the status of detained immigrants at Guantanamo, an ICE spokesperson declined to comment, citing “ongoing litigation.”
ICE and DHS, both agencies that have led U.S. deportation operations under President Donald Trump, have repeatedly declined to answer questions about the detainees’ identities, their countries of origin or the crimes they have been charged with.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on social media that many of the “high-threat illegal aliens” being sent to Guantánamo are members of the Venezuelan street gang Tren de Aragua who have confessed to or been charged with murder, attempted murder, assault, arms trafficking and drug crimes.
The Trump administration announced plans in late January to use the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base to hold immigrants awaiting deportation.
At the time, Noem told reporters that the facilities would be used to hold people who have committed “egregious crimes.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also said in late January that the detention center at Guantánamo Bay is the “best place” to hold criminals awaiting deportation, adding that the base’s Immigration Operations Center – originally built in the 1990s – will also be used to house non-violent immigrants awaiting deportation.
The first detainees arrived at Guantánamo Bay in February aboard U.S. military cargo planes, with some staying for only days or weeks before being deported.
At one point, the base held nearly 200 detainees in its prison and immigration facilities.
Last month, ICE deported 177 detainees from Guantánamo Bay to Honduras, with plans to transfer them to Venezuela for deportation, and then continued to bring more detainees to Guantánamo Bay.
Immigrant rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), have filed multiple lawsuits against the U.S. government for using Guantánamo Bay to detain immigrants.
Earlier this month, a lawsuit called on the U.S. government to stop transferring immigrants to the base, alleging that the move violated U.S. federal law.
Another lawsuit filed in February said the U.S. government blocked detainees’ families and lawyers from contacting them.
The Department of Homeland Security refuted the allegations made in the lawsuits.
“The ACLU seems more concerned about promoting open borders and disrupting public safety missions than protecting the civil liberties of American citizens – they should consider changing their name,” a DHS spokesperson told VOA earlier this month. “In the meantime, we will continue to work with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to defend against these baseless legal challenges.