First military flight carrying deported US migrants lands in Guantanamo
The first US military flight deporting migrants from the United States to Guantanamo Bay landed in Cuba on Tuesday evening, according to a US official.
It was the first step in an an expected surge in the number of migrants sent to the US naval base, which for decades was primarily used to detain foreigners associated with the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was assigned to Guantanamo Bay when he was on active duty, has called it a 'perfect place' to house migrants. Additional US troops been deployed to the facility in the past few days to help prepare.
There are currently 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 US Marines from the 6th Marine Regiment, who began deploying on Friday.
Amy Fischer, director of the Refugee and Migrant Rights Program at Amnesty International USA, has criticised the use of Guantanamo.
'Sending immigrants to Guantanamo is a profoundly cruel, costly move. It will cut people off from lawyers, family and support systems, throwing them into a black hole so the U.S. government can continue to violate their human rights out of sight. Shut Gitmo down now and forever!" Fischer said in a statement.
The US also flew Indian immigrants back to India on Monday and the first group of Haitian migrants deported from the US arrived back in the Caribbean nation on Tuesday.
There had previously been seven deportation flights; to Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras and Peru. A number of Colombian officials also flew to the US and took two flights of migrants back to their country.
There are more than 725,000 immigrants from India living in the US without authorisation, the third most of any country after Mexico and El Salvador, according to the Pew Research Centre.
Recent years have also seen a jump in the number of Indians attempting to enter the country along the US-Canada border. The US Border Patrol arrested more than 14,000 Indians on the Canadian border in the year ending 30 September, which amounted to 60% of all arrests along that border and more than 10 times the number two years ago.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
a day ago
- France 24
Suspect in Colorado flamethrower attack planned assault for over a year, FBI says
A man posing as a gardener to get close to a group in Boulder holding their weekly demonstration for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza planned to kill them all with Molotov cocktails, authorities said Monday. But he had second thoughts and only threw two out of the 18 incendiary devices he had into the group of about 20 people, yelling 'Free Palestine' and accidentally burning himself, police said. Twelve people were injured in the Sunday attack. He had gas in a backpack sprayer but told investigators he didn't spray it on anyone but himself 'because he had planned on dying.' 'He said he had to do it, he should do it, and he would not forgive himself if he did not do it,' police wrote in an affidavit. He didn't carry out his full plan 'because he got scared and had never hurt anyone before.' Mohamad Sabry Soliman, 45, planned the attack for more than a year and specifically targeted what he described as a 'Zionist group,' authorities said in court papers charging him with a federal hate crime. The suspect's first name also was spelled Mohammed in some court documents. 'When he was interviewed about the attack, he said he wanted them all to die, he had no regrets and he would go back and do it again,' Acting US Attorney J. Bishop Grewell for the District of Colorado said during a press conference Monday. Federal and state prosecutors filed separate criminal cases against Soliman, charging him with a hate crime and attempted murder, respectively. He faces additional state charges related to the incendiary devices, and more charges are possible in federal court, where the Justice Department will seek a grand jury indictment. During a state court hearing Monday, Soliman appeared briefly via a video link from the Boulder County Jail wearing an orange jumpsuit. Another court hearing is set for Thursday. Soliman is being held on a $10 million, cash-only bond, prosecutors said. An FBI affidavit says Soliman confessed to the attack after being taken into custody Sunday and told the police he was driven by a desire 'to kill all Zionist people,' a reference to the movement to establish and protect a Jewish state in Israel. Soliman's attorney, public defender Kathryn Herold, declined to comment after the hearing. Soliman was living in the U.S. illegally after entering the country in August 2022 on a B2 visa that expired in February 2023, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a post on the social platform X. The burst of violence at the popular Pearl Street pedestrian mall in downtown Boulder unfolded against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war that continues to inflame global tensions and has contributed to a spike in antisemitic violence in the United States. The attack happened on the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot and barely a week after a man who also yelled 'Free Palestine' was charged with fatally shooting two Israeli embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum in Washington. The victims who were wounded range in age from 52 to 88, and the injuries spanned from serious to minor, officials said. All four of the latest victims had what police described as minor injuries. Six of the injured were taken to hospitals, and four have since been released, said Miri Kornfeld, a Denver-based organizer connected to the group. She said the clothing of one of those who remains hospitalized caught on fire. The volunteer group called Run For Their Lives was concluding their weekly demonstration when video from the scene shows a witness shouting, 'He's right there. He's throwing Molotov cocktails." A police officer with his gun drawn advances on a bare-chested suspect who is holding containers in each hand. Witness Alex Osante of San Diego said he was across the pedestrian mall when he heard the crash of a bottle breaking and a 'boom' followed by people yelling and screaming. In video of the scene captured by Osante, people could be seen pouring water on a woman lying on the ground who Osante said had caught on fire during the attack. Soliman said he dressed up like gardener with an orange vest in order to get as close to the group as possible, police wrote. Osante said that after the suspect threw the two incendiary devices, apparently catching himself on fire as he threw the second, he took off his shirt and what appeared to be a bulletproof vest before the police arrived. The man dropped to the ground and was arrested without any apparent resistance in the video Osante filmed. District Attorney Michael Dougherty said 16 unused Molotov cocktails were recovered by law enforcement. The devices were made up of glass wine carafe bottles or jars with clear liquid and red rags hanging out of the them, the FBI said. Soliman told investigators he constructed the devices after doing research on YouTube and buying the ingredients. 'He stated that he had been planning the attack for a year and was waiting until after his daughter graduated to conduct the attack,' the affidavit says. Soliman also told investigators he took a concealed carry class and tried to buy a gun but was denied because he is not a legal US citizen. Authorities said they believe Soliman acted alone. He was also injured and taken to a hospital. Authorities did not elaborate on the nature of his injuries, but a booking photo showed him with a large bandage over one ear. In video and photos shot right after the attack by a woman at the gathering, Soliman can be seen pacing without his shirt on with what appears to be burns down one of his arms. He and a small group of people around him are screaming at each other, with some witnesses filming him. Soliman, who was born in Egypt, moved to Colorado Springs three years ago, where he lived with his wife and five kids, according to state court documents. He previously spent 17 years living in Kuwait. McLaughlin said Soliman filed for asylum in September 2022 and was granted a work authorization in March 2023 that had expired. DHS did not immediately respond to requests for additional information. Shameka Pruiett knew Soliman and his wife as kindly neighbors with three young kids and two teenagers who'd play with Pruiett's kids. Another neighbor, Kierra Johnson, said she could often hear shouting at night from his apartment and once called police because of the screaming and yelling. On Sunday, Pruiett saw law enforcement vehicles waiting on the street throughout the day until the evening, when they spoke through a megaphone telling anyone in Soliman's home to come out. Nobody came out and it did not appear anyone was inside, said Pruiett.
France 24
a day ago
- France 24
Aiming a blow at narcos, Colombia pays farmers to uproot coca
Among the beneficiaries are Alirio Caicedo and his son Nicolas, who a decade ago planted an expanse of coca as they staked their future on the continued patronage of criminal gangs. Today, they are uprooting the crops and hoping for the best. The Caicedos and some 4,000 other Colombian families have entered into a pact with the government to replace their coca with alternative crops such as cocoa and coffee. It is part of a $14.4 million project to reduce supply of a product blamed for untold misery in a country where armed groups force rural communities to grow coca and raze forests for its cultivation. The project seeks to eradicate coca production on 45,000 hectares in three of Colombia's most conflict-riddled regions, including the southwestern Micay Canyon where the Caicedos ply their trade in the Argelia municipality. For farmers it is a risk. They cannot be sure that their new plantations -- coffee in the Caicedos' case -- will succeed, or that guerrillas and other groups whose income depend on cocaine sales will leave them in peace. "When one is planting a coca plant, there is hope that in time... there will be a harvest and there will be some income," Nicolas Caicedo, 44, told AFP while he and his dad, 77, shoveled and tugged at the remaining coca shrubs on their property. "Uprooting the plants means that... there will be no more harvests -— in other words, no more money," from coca at least. With coca, the Caicedos said they were guaranteed an income of about $800 per month. They have received an initial payment of about $300 under the project to grow coffee, with more to come. But another farmer, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, said he doubted the project could work in areas such as Argelia where illegal groups outnumber the state in terms of fighters and guns. "No armed group that lives off (coca) is going to want a farmer to stop growing coca and switch to coffee," he said. 'Naive' Gustavo Petro, Colombia's first-ever leftist president, took office in 2022 with the goal of extricating his country from the US-led "war on drugs" blamed for double-victimization of rural Colombians already living under the yoke of violent criminal groups. On his watch, cocaine production in Colombia -- the world's biggest exporter of the drug -- reached record levels as demand continues to grow in Europe and the United States -- the principal consumer. Several previous attempts to get Colombian coca producers to change crops have failed as armed groups caused havoc and government payments and other assistance eventually dried up. For Gloria Miranda, head of Colombia's illegal crop substitution program, told AFP would be naive to think this new program will end drug trafficking "as long as there is a market of 20 million consumers and it (cocaine) remains illegal." In his stated quest for "total peace," Petro has sought to negotiate with a variety of armed groups, meaning fewer military operations and the abandonment of forced coca eradication. But talks have mostly broken down, and the arrival of Donald Trump in the White House in January has ramped up pressure on Bogota. The Trump administration is reviewing Colombia's certification as an ally in the fight against drugs -- a move that could restrict millions of dollars in military aid. With high stakes for its crop replacement gamble, observers fear the government may be taken advantage of. Some farmers may "try to deceive" by taking the money while continuing to grow coca, Argelia government secretary Pablo Daza told AFP. Without adequate monitoring, "the chances are quite high that we are wasting money," added Emilio Archila, who oversaw a similar, failed, project under former President Ivan Duque. Miranda assures there will be "meticulous" satellite monitoring, and anyone found not to be complying will be expelled from the program. Used not only for cocaine, the coca leaf is also chewed as a stimulant in Andean countries or brewed into a tea thought to combat altitude sickness. Colombia's appeals for the leaf to be removed from a UN list of harmful narcotics so it can be commercialized in alternative products such as fertilizers or beverages, have so far fallen on deaf ears.
LeMonde
4 days ago
- LeMonde
Hegseth reassures US support for Indo-Pacific allies against 'imminent' threat of China
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reassured allies in the Indo-Pacific on Saturday, May 31, that they will not be left alone to face increasing military and economic pressures from China. He said Washington will bolster its defenses overseas to counter what the Pentagon sees as rapidly developing threats by Beijing, particularly in its aggressive stance toward Taiwan. China has conducted numerous exercises to test what a blockade would look like of the self-governing island, which Beijing claims as its own and the US has pledged to defend. China's army "is rehearsing for the real deal," Hegseth said in a keynote speech at a security conference in Singapore. "We are not going to sugarcoat it – the threat China poses is real. And it could be imminent." China has a stated goal of having its military be able to take Taiwan by force if necessary by 2027, a deadline that is seen by experts as more of an aspirational goal than a hard war deadline. But China also has developed sophisticated man-made islands in the South China Sea to support new military outposts and built up highly advanced hypersonic and space capabilities, which are driving the US to create its own space-based "Golden Dome" missile defenses. Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a global security conference hosted by the International Institute for Security Studies, Hegseth said China is no longer just building up its military forces to take Taiwan, it's "actively training for it, every day." Hegseth also called out China for its ambitions in Latin America, particularly its efforts to increase its influence over the Panama Canal. He repeated a pledge made by previous administrations to bolster US military capabilities in the region to provide a more robust deterrent. While both the Obama and Biden administrations had also committed to pivoting to the Pacific – and even established new military agreements throughout the region – a full shift has never been realized. Instead, US military resources from the Indo-Pacific have been regularly pulled to support military needs in the Middle East and Europe, especially since the wars in Ukraine and Gaza . In the first few months of President Donald Trump's second term, that's also been the case. The Indo-Pacific nations caught in between have tried to balance relations with both the US and China over the years. Beijing is the primary trading partner for many, but is also feared as a regional bully, in part due to its increasingly aggressive claims on natural resources such as critical fisheries. 'Beware the leverage' Hegseth cautioned that playing both sides, seeking US military support and Chinese economic support, carries risk. "Beware the leverage the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) seeks with that entanglement," Hegseth said. Help us improve Le Monde in English Dear reader, We'd love to hear your thoughts on Le Monde in English! Take this quick survey to help us improve it for you. Take the survey China usually sends its own defense minister to this conference — but in a snub this year to the US and the erratic tariff war Trump has ignited with Beijing, its minister Dong Jun did not attend, something the US delegation said it intended to capitalize on. "We are here this morning. And somebody else isn't," Hegseth said. He urged countries in the region to increase defense spending to levels similar to the 5% of their gross domestic product European nations are now pressed to contribute. "We must all do our part," Hegseth said. It's not clear if the US can or wants to supplant China as the region's primary economic driver. But Hegseth's push follows Trump's visit to the Middle East, which resulted in billions of dollars in new defense agreements. Hegseth said committing US support for Indo-Pacific nations would not be based on any conditions on local governments aligning their cultural or climate issues with the West.
