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(by Steve Nelson, NY Post) WASHINGTON — President Trump said Wednesday that he plans to send up to 30,000 illegal immigrants to detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as part of his campaign to mass-deport migrants who have committed crimes.
“Today, I’m also signing an executive order to instruct the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to begin preparing the 30,000-person migrant facility at Guantanamo Bay,” Trump said while signing the anti-illegal immigration Laken Riley Act.
“Most people don’t even know that we have 30,000 beds in Guantanamo to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people.”
Trump added that “some of them are so bad, we don’t even trust the countries to hold them, because we don’t want them coming back.”
“So we’re going to send them out to Guantanamo,” he said.
“This will double our capacity immediately, right? And … it’s a tough place to get out of.”
The United States has a long-term lease from Cuba’s government for a naval facility at Guantanamo Bay, which has housed terrorism suspects since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
Only 15 terror suspects remain there, down from nearly 700 in 2003.
It’s unclear if there are any legal hurdles to Trump’s plan.
Border czar Tom Homan told reporters on the White House driveway Wednesday afternoon that “there’s already a migrant center” at the Cuba outpost and “it’s been there for decades.”
“So we’re just going to expand upon that existing migrant center … Every facility, including Gitmo, will have the highest standards,” added Homan, who said that flights to the Communist island would be reserved for “the worst of the worst.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that the White House will attempt to begin the initiative using “resources that we currently have,” but that additional funds may be sought in a budget reconciliation bill currently in the works in Congress.
Published at NYPost .com. Reprinted here for educational purposes only. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission.
Questions
1. The first paragraph of a news article should answer the questions who, what, where and when. List the who, what, where and when of this news item. (NOTE: The remainder of a news article provides details on the why and/or how.)
2. Who will be held at Guantanamo under President Trump’s plan?
3. a) Why does the president want to put these particular illegal migrant criminals at Guantanamo Bay?
b) Based on what you know about Venezuela, why would the U.S. put Venezuelan illegal migrant criminals at Gitmo?
4. For what reasons does the Trump administration say Guantanamo is a good place to hold these illegal migrant criminals?
5. What might be the only problem with this plan?
6. Consider the statistics:
As of July 21, 2024, nearly 650,000 criminal illegal aliens were on ICE’s Non-Detained Docket (NDD) and roaming free in communities throughout the United States. This figure includes roughly 15,000 individuals convicted of or charged with murder, more than 20,000 of sexual assault, and more than 105,000 of assault.
a) Do you think using Guantanamo is a good plan? Explain your answer.
b) Ask a parent the same question.
Resources
Watch the January 29, 2025 announcement by President Trump and an interview with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth:
Daily “Answers” emails are provided for Daily News Articles, Tuesday’s World Events and Friday’s News Quiz.
