Guantanamo Bay Sits Largely Empty Despite Trump Plans To Send 30,000 Immigration Detainees There

Despite plans by President Trump to fill the Guantanamo Bay naval station with as many as 30,000 high-priority migrants with prison file, the ability stays largely empty, in line with a brand new report.

CBS Information detailed that, as of Might 11, there have been six detainees on the facility. Over the course of the final 12 months, the whole quantity transferred there was 832. There have been 100 staff on the facility for each one detainee. Additionally, the price of increasing the detention services and staffing it had ballooned to greater than $70 million.

Within the January 2025 directive, Trump ordered the Protection Division and Homeland Safety to increase the Migrant Operations Heart at Guantanamo Bay to a capability of 30,000.

“This memorandum is issued with a purpose to halt the border invasion, dismantle prison cartels, and restore nationwide sovereignty,” Trump wrote, emphasizing that the brand new house was wanted for high-priority prison aliens.

Despite the obvious urgency cited within the directive to thwart an “invasion,” CBS Information discovered that Guantanamo’s capability stays restricted to about 400 beds. Of these beds, lower than 2 % have been occupied as of Might 11.

In March 2025, following the president’s announcement, satellite tv for pc imagery confirmed fast building of latest buildings, ostensibly to accommodate detainees, ABC Information reported. The community discovered that between Feb. 2 and Feb. 19, 175 new buildings have been constructed on the base.

Despite that preliminary exercise and tens of tens of millions of {dollars}, capability stays restricted and largely unused.

“When you come to our nation illegally and break our legal guidelines, you possibly can find yourself in Guantanamo Bay, CECOT, or a 3rd nation. Our message is evident: prison unlawful aliens should not welcome within the U.S.,” DHS spokeswoman Lauren Bis informed CBS Information.

Concern about the associated fee and effectiveness of utilizing Guantanamo Bay for immigration detention just isn’t new. In a Might 2025 listening to, U.S. Senator Gary Peters famous it was costing taxpayers about $100,000 a day per detainee, Reuters reported.

“We’re spending $100,000 a day to maintain somebody at Guantanamo,” stated Peters, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Homeland Safety and Governmental Affairs Committee. “We hold them there awhile, then we fly them again to the US, or we may hold them right here for $165 a day. I believe that is sort of outrageous.”