Washington, DC — The Trump administration has begun detaining migrants at Guantánamo Bay, with two flights occurring this week from Fort Bliss carrying roughly a dozen people. In response to this news, Stacy Suh, Program Director of Detention Watch Network issued the following statement:
“The use of Guantánamo Bay to detain people is the latest step in a shocking plan to expand the immigration detention system. Guantánamo Bay has an extensive history of abuse and torture–and this in no uncertain terms will put people’s physical and mental health in jeopardy. Trump’s immigration detention expansion plan and use of Guantanamo Bay is unprecedented and will tear apart families, put people’s lives in danger, and cost taxpayers greatly. It will also increase the targeting and racial profiling of people within their communities based on what they look like, the language they speak, and where they work, while further expanding the detention system that is rife with abuse. This moment demands a national outcry — our elected officials cannot remain silent on Trump’s excessive cruelty. Rather, they must vocally oppose this mass detention and deportation agenda by denying Trump the resources he needs to carry out his plans, including by cutting funds to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).”
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Detention Watch Network (DWN) is a national coalition building power through collective advocacy, grassroots organizing, and strategic communications to abolish immigration detention in the United States.