The first U.S. military flight carrying illegal criminal aliens from the U.S. to Guantanamo Bay landed in Cuba late Tuesday night, thus initiating President Donald Trump’s plan to expand a migrant detention facility at the base.
As Breitbart News reported, Trump has told his deputies to reopen the facility to house an anticipated 30,000 migrants pending their full deportation.
The announcement to utilize the facility for that purpose was made by the president shortly after signing the Laken Riley Act in late January.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday Guantanamo Bay’s high-security prison facility could house “the worst of the worst” criminals being deported.
Additional U.S. troops have arrived at the facility in the past few days to help prepare, AP reports.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem shared images of some of the detainees as they boarded the maiden flight of the C-17 transport plane.
President @realdonaldtrump has been very clear: Guantanamo Bay will hold the worst of the worst. That starts today. pic.twitter.com/Iqxt5rCfWa
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) February 4, 2025
The deportation flight landed at at 7:20 p.m. ET, according to U.S. Transportation Command.
The 10 people on the flight were suspected members of the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
There had previously been seven deportation flights, to Ecuador, Guam, Honduras and Peru. In addition, Colombian officials flew to the U.S. and took two flights of migrants back to their country, the AP story outlines.
There are approximately 300 service members supporting the holding operations at Guantanamo Bay, and the numbers will fluctuate based on the requirements of the Department of Homeland Security, which is the lead federal agency.
At least 230 of those service members are U.S. Marines from the 6th Marine Regiment, who began deploying on Friday.
Trump’s deputies are already deporting slightly more than 1,000 alien migrants each day, or triple the 300 a day deported by President Joe Biden’s deputies.
But the illegal migrant population is at least 13 million, including roughly two million migrants who have committed crimes or have been ordered home by judges.
