Tents at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay in assist of the Division of Protection and Division of Homeland Safety mission to develop the Unlawful Alien Holding Operations Middle throughout Operation Southern Guard at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on Feb. 17.
AFN Guantanamo Bay Public Affairs/U.S. Navy
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AFN Guantanamo Bay Public Affairs/U.S. Navy
A number of migrants despatched by the US to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, needed to be relocated to a different a part of the U.S. naval base there due to a water provide failure, elevating extra questions about whether or not Guantánamo can accommodate the 30,000 migrants President Trump has stated he needs to ship there.
A part of the naval base will get its consuming water from a remedy facility related by an underwater pipeline, and the Justice Division notified a federal courtroom on Thursday of a “disruption to water service” in late August to the world the place the federal government’s Migrant Operations Middle, or MOC, is situated. That is the place the U.S. is housing what it calls “low-threat aliens.”
In consequence, the three migrants being held on the MOC on the time have been transferred to a different a part of the bottom the place “high-threat aliens” are held. An official at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, which runs the power, instructed the courtroom that the 2 classes of migrants are being housed in separate areas.
The federal government submitting didn’t state the whole variety of migrants at Guantánamo when the water drawback was found, but it surely stated 24 migrants have been on the bottom as of Sept. 9. Migrants have been cycled on and off the island since early February.
Water just isn’t anticipated to be restored for a minimum of one other week, the federal government stated.
Critics of sending migrants to Guantánamo say the bottom’s infrastructure is simply too primitive to carry massive numbers of individuals there, and the continued water failure has added to their skepticism.
The water drawback is “one other instance of the truth that Guantánamo was not constructed for and can’t accommodate the 1000’s of migrants that the Trump administration needs to ship there,” stated Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Challenge. “And that is on prime of the truth that it prices a lot extra money than detaining them within the U.S. It exhibits as soon as once more that is about theatrics, not security and never doing one thing that is extra environment friendly.”
The common day by day value of holding a migrant at Guantánamo is about $100,000, whereas it prices about $165 a day to maintain a migrant in ICE detention within the U.S., in keeping with courtroom filings, authorities paperwork, and congressional delegates who visited the bottom earlier this yr.
The federal government stated naval personnel discovered the water provide drawback on Aug. 28, and the Protection Division notified ICE on Aug. 30 of “structural injury” to the pipeline.
The a part of the island the place the MOC is situated additionally homes authorities and navy personnel, in addition to residents. A few of these individuals, together with the three migrants within the MOC, have been relocated to a extra populous a part of the bottom that also has potable water. Some “important” personnel stay within the space with out operating water, so water vans are being transported there by ferry, in keeping with the federal government.
As well as, “larger-capacity vans and a big water purification unit will arrive as early as September 19, 2025, which is able to enable for the return of regular operations,” wrote Jason Lynch of ICE’s Enforcement and Removing Operations division. “Till the water provide is restored, no migrant will likely be detained on the MOC.”
These bigger vans and the purification unit are at present en path to Guantánamo by barge and tugboat, in keeping with Capt. Michael Stephen, commanding officer of Guantánamo’s naval base. He stated the reason for the water disruption is “unknown and beneath investigation” and there will likely be a “full evaluation” of the broken underwater pipeline, which can want long-term repairs.
“There’s at present no estimated time for pipeline restore,” Stephen added.
In response to the federal government, as a result of water drawback, all migrants despatched to Guantánamo are being held in Camp 6, a jail facility that used to deal with suspected terrorists rounded up throughout the so-called Warfare on Terror. There are nonetheless 15 of these prisoners on the base and they’re now being held in a special jail facility, the federal government stated.
The paperwork disclosing the water failure have been submitted as a part of a lawsuit filed by a coalition of advocacy organizations that desires to cease the switch of migrants to Guantánamo. Gelernt is the lead counsel for the plaintiffs in that go well with.
In response to these paperwork, the common size of keep for migrants despatched to Guantánamo is 14 days.
The Division of Homeland Safety, which oversees ICE, didn’t instantly reply to an e mail in search of remark.
