United States Begins Flying Illegal Aliens To Guantanamo Bay

The United States began flying illegal aliens to the Guantanamo Bay facility in Cuba today as the Trump administration continues its work to prepare the naval base to serve as a detention center for tens of thousands of migrants.

The first flight, scheduled to leave today from Fort Bliss in Texas, has roughly a dozen illegal aliens on board. While the base is currently equipped to hold 120 illegal aliens, the Trump administration says it will expand the base to be able to hold 30,000 aliens.

The flight comes less than a week after President Donald Trump announced that Guantanamo Bay, which has historically been used to detain terror suspects, will be used “to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people.”

“Guantanamo Bay will hold the worst of the worst. That starts today,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kritsi Noem wrote in a post on X alongside pictures of the illegal aliens.

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

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also confirmed that the administration was at work transporting illegal aliens to the naval base. “The first flights from the United States to Guantanamo Bay with illegal migrants are under way,” Leavitt said in a recent appearance on Fox Business. “He’s not messing around,” she said of President Trump’s recent actions cracking down on illegal immigration.

About 200 United States Marines have reportedly been sent to Guantanamo Bay, with as many as 500 in total expected to arrive at the military base in the next few days. The Marines will build new infrastructure to expand the base’s detention capacity, including through the construction of tents. Trump noted the significance of the step last week, explaining that the move “is going to double our capacity immediately.”

“Some of them are so bad we don’t even trust the countries to hold them,” Trump said of criminal illegal aliens, adding that “we don’t want them coming back so we’re going to send them out to Guantanamo.”

The president’s executive order authorizing the creation of new detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay specifies that the base will be used to hold “high-priority criminal aliens unlawfully present in the United States.”