Trump signed a presidential memorandum last week that instructed the Pentagon and the Dept. of Homeland Security to expand the migrant operations center at the famous facility known formally as U.S. Naval Air Station Guantanamo Bay.
The U.S.-owned property, located in communist-run Cuba, was expanded in 2012 to jail and interrogate Islamic terrorists, such as Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters, during the George W. Bush administration.
In an X post related to Trump’s memo, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth explained Gitmo has been used by previous U.S. presidents to house illegal aliens in a facility that is separate from the detention facility for terrorists.
Hegseth, a U.S. Army veteran, worked at Gitmo as a guard in 2004.
The memo’s order to beef up Gitmo comes after Trump followed through on a campaign promise to find, arrest, and deport illegal aliens beginning with those who have criminal records.
“This memorandum,” it reads, “is issued in order to halt the border invasion, dismantle criminal cartels, and restore national sovereignty.”
On Jan. 27, a day before Trump’s memo on Gitmo, the White House announced ICE had made 969 arrests of dangerous illegal aliens, including rapists and gang members, since Trump took office.
In a separate announcement, the Dept. of Homeland Security said law enforcement officials have “removed and returned 7,300 illegal aliens.”
Gary Bauer, chairman of the Campaign for Working Families, points out the illegal aliens being transported to Gitmo are being sent there if their deportation is delayed.
“There's a new sheriff in town,” he says of Trump, “and you're not going to get away with the games that have been played the last four years."
