The U.S. has long used Guantanamo Bay (a U.S. naval base in Cuba) to house those detained during the so-called War on Terror. Now Donald Trump has signed an Executive Order calling for a 30,000-bed expansion to enable the infamous torture site’s use as a “migrant facility.” Titled “Expanding Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to Full Capacity,” the EO directs the Secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security to provide detention space for “criminal aliens” (a derogatory reference to undocumented people). While the White House frames the move as a necessary anti-immigration tactic, others fear it’s something else.
Trump To Use Guantanamo Bay for Detention
The blitzkrieg of Executive Orders has been a key part of the Trump administration’s strategy at the start of the president’s second term. The presumed goal is to confuse and exhaust his political opponents. That hasn’t stopped some TikTok creators from using their platform to inform others. A video on the subject of Guantanamo by @aaronparnas1 has garnered over 200k likes and numerous comments expressing disapproval and disbelief. One commenter pointed out the obvious historical parallels, saying, “He going to make a CONCENTRATION of migrants in a CAMP at Guantanamo Bay [sic].”
Guantanamo Bay is comprised of several camps, all with varying security and transparency levels. At its highest historical capacity, the site reportedly held less than 1,000 detainees. The Trump administration’s 30,000-bed goal would thus likely require a high concentration of bodies in camps ill-suited for life. The U.S. has historically used the site’s legal gray area as an offshore detention center to its advantage. That includes using it for torture and interminable detention, according to a 2014 report by a U.S. Senate Select Committee.
Several of the commenters on @aaronparnas1’s video expressed disbelief such a site would be used to house immigrants, regardless of their legal status. “Guantanamo bay for people whose life literally revolves around work and family? [sic]” one commenter said. Another stated their concern even more bluntly, saying,
Guantanamo Bay = American version of Auschwitz???
Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest concentration and extermination camp created by the Nazis in occupied Poland. Approximately 1.1 million people died there, whether by the gas chambers, forced labor, violence, or starvation. Monday was the 80th anniversary of the camp’s liberation, another reminder of just how recent that history is. It’s a date many Americans will likely have fresh in their minds as Trump advances with his plans for Guantanamo Bay.
