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Trump promised to hold 30,000 migrants at Guantanamo. It's mostly empty.

Trump promised to hold 30,000 migrants at Guantanamo. It's mostly empty.

Summary

President Donald Trump announced plans to use the Guantanamo Bay military base as a large detention center for 30,000 migrants facing deportation. However, over a year later, the facility holds only a few detainees, with most of its 400-bed capacity and the $73 million budget going unused.

Key Facts

  • President Trump planned to turn Guantanamo Bay into a detention center for 30,000 migrants in early 2025.
  • As of May 11, only six migrants, all from Haiti, were being held there.
  • The base can hold about 400 detainees, but fewer than 2% of these beds were occupied.
  • Over the past year, 832 detainees arrived at Guantanamo on more than 100 flights.
  • There are approximately 522 Department of Defense personnel and around 60 other government staff assigned to immigration operations at the base.
  • The estimated cost for the military’s role in the operation is about $73 million, which is higher than earlier estimates.
  • The U.S. government has shared limited information about this detention program.
  • The effort to use Guantanamo for immigration detention began in February 2025 with migrants arrested inside the U.S.
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