Trump administration has cleared migrants out of Guantánamo Bay
The Trump administration has flown all of the migrants it had held in Guantánamo Bay out of the facility there, NBC News has learned from three sources familiar with the operation and flight data.
In response to a lawsuit, the Trump administration said that there were 178 immigrants, all from Venezuela, housed at Guantánamo Bay as of early Thursday.
A senior Department of Homeland Security official told NBC News that 177 of the 178 migrants at Guantánamo Bay were deported on Thursday. The one other person was sent to a detention facility in the U.S., the official said.
Also Thursday, Honduras' foreign ministry announced that the country had accepted a flight with what it said were 174 Venezuelan immigrants from the U.S. on board, who would immediately be removed from Honduras to Venezuela.
The official also said that the varying numbers between the administration and Honduras could just be a discrepancy.
A picture of the plane on which the immigrants were flown to Honduras was tweeted out by Honduras' foreign minister. The tail number on the plane in the picture corresponds to a flight that went from Guantánamo to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on Thursday, according to FlightRadar24.com.
The Trump administration had made a show of moving migrants to Guantánamo, saying it would be sending the 'worst of the worst."
The senior DHS official told NBC News that it plans to send more immigrants to Guantánamo, and that the base is being seen as a "staging area" to get migrants to other countries. But two sources familiar with the matter said that DHS has asked the Department of Defense to look for alternative locations, and that DOD is considering other places like Fort Bliss in Texas.
The removal raises new questions about what rights immigrants have once in custody in Guantánamo Bay. Lawyers from immigrant rights' groups sued the Trump administration to have in-person access to detainees and 72 hours notice before planes carrying migrants to or away from Guantánamo took off.
In response, Justice Department lawyers representing the Trump administration argued on Thursday that migrants could request to speak to lawyers by phone, that it violated the operational authority of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to be required to give notice and that the administration could hold immigrants in Guantánamo Bay longer than six months. Previous court orders have stated that migrants cannot be held in ICE detention longer than six months and that detention standards should not be punitive.
Lee Gelernt, the lead lawyer for the ACLU challenging the Trump administration in the lawsuit, told NBC News: 'We will have to verify what type of access is going to be able to be given by phone and make sure it is meaningful. We will also seek in-person access where necessary.'
'It's ironic to say the least that they are now telling us they have phone access but it appears that our clients have been removed,' Gelernt said.
In its response to the lawsuit in which it said it had 178 immigrants Guantánamo, the Trump administration also detailed where in the base they were being held. One hundred and twenty-seven were housed in Camp VI, the high-security detention facility typically used to detain people accused of terrorism by the United States, according to the administration. Another 51 were housed at the Migrant Operation Center, an existing structure previously reserved for migrants interdicted at sea.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
22 minutes ago
- Reuters
Trump said US was aware of Israel's plans to attack Iran, WSJ reports
June 13 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump told the Wall Street Journal on Friday that he and his team had known about Israel's plans to attack Iran. The Wall Street Journal said that, when asked what kind of a heads-up the United States received before the attack, Trump said in a brief phone interview: "Heads-up? It wasn't a heads-up. It was, we know what's going on." Trump said he had spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday and planned to speak with him again on Friday. Trump called the operation "a very successful attack, to put it mildly," the Wall Street Journal said.
Daily Mirror
29 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
Israel's nighttime attack on Iran mapped as six key nuclear targets confirmed
Israel has launched a widescale attack against Iran, killing top military commanders and nuclear scientists, with the country responding by launching 100 drones of their own and promising "bitter" revenge Israel launched a widescale attack against Iran's nuclear programme - something that US President Trump said just days ago "could very well happen", and Iran has called "an act of war" - leaving the Middle East on the brink. The extensive strikes reportedly killed two top nuclear scientists, and military commanders, with the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic promising swift retribution against Israel. Iran launched 100 drones in response, but Israel has since said these have all been intercepted. The attack comes as the US government was due to continue negotiations with Iran over its nuclear programme. Since 2019, Iran has been stockpiling enriched uranium that is very close to weapons-grade and has reportedly avoided answering questions about why. Though they have insisted that their nuclear programme is just for energy, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has, for many years, issued warnings that Iran intends to make weapons of mass destruction. Earlier this week the international nuclear watchdog - the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) found Iran is not complying with its nuclear obligations. As international leaders call for de-escalation, including UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, the US has said they were not involved in the operation that targetted Iran's nuclear programme, ballistic missile factories, and the residences of military commanders. However, they have warned Iran against targetting "US interests or personnel" and said they will back Israel if Iran counter-attacks. See a full interactive map of Israel's targets in Iran below, for more information. Full list of confirmed targets Israel attacked in Iran The attacks on Iran are ongoing, with locals in Tabriz - a city in Northwest Iran - reporting recent missile strikes in the area mid-morning on June 13. Read on for a full list of confirmed targets: The city of Tabriz, where ongoing attacks have been reported, which is near a nuclear research centre and two military bases. The capital, Tehran, and military sites nearby The city of Natanz, where explosions occurred at the main uranium enrichment facility, and damage has been confirmed, with the head of Iran's atomic agency telling state media the nuclear facility has been totally destroyed The city of Isfahan, south of Tehran. The city of Arak, southwest of Tehran. The city of Kermanshah, west of Tehran. Dangers of attacking a nuclear facility Netanyahu has said the operation aims to stop Iran from building a nuclear weapon, something he called a "threat to Israel's very survival". However, attacking nuclear facilities comes with very real danger - and these can be unpredictable. From increased radiation levels and leaks, widespread radioactive contamination of the area, and explosions. The head of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, has said the watchdog is monitoring the situation closely, "The Agency is in contact with Iranian authorities regarding radiation levels. We are also in contact with our inspectors in the country." Where are Iran and Israel on the map? Iran and Israel are both in the Middle East, with Iran also technically part of West Asia. A vast country, Iran - formerly known as Persia - covers 1.648 million square miles and it has a population of 90.61 million, as of 2023. To the West, Iran borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan is to the North-West. To the North-East it borders Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey, and on its Eastern border is Iraq - where President Trump recently pulled his non-essential diplomatic staff. To the north, Iran has a coastline in the Caspian Sea, and to the south the Persian Gulf. Israel is north of Egypt, west of Jordan, and south of Lebanon, and has an eastern coast in the Mediterranean Sea.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Trump Medicaid cuts could devastate rural health services, hospitals warn
WASHINGTON, June 13 (Reuters) - Rural hospitals are sounding the alarm over proposed healthcare cuts in President Donald Trump's sweeping tax-cut and spending package, warning the changes could force them to scale back services or close their doors. The bill would reduce federal spending on Medicaid, the health program for low-income Americans, by tightening enrollment standards and limiting federal aid to states. That worries rural providers, who rely heavily on the program to serve a population that tends to be poorer and sicker than the nation as a whole. "We can't sustain serving our community the way we are with additional cuts," said Carrie Lutz, CEO of Holton Community Hospital in Holton, Kansas. The independent nonprofit hospital, which serves a farming community of 13,000, is asking voters for a quarter-cent sales-tax increase to help cover its costs, which outpace annual revenues in many years. Lutz's concerns highlight the delicate balancing act lawmakers face as they try to enact Trump's priorities. Republicans who control both chambers of the U.S. Congress aim to cut Medicaid spending by $785 billion over a decade, to partly offset the cost of extending and adding to the 2017 tax cuts that were Trump's signature first-term legislative achievement. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill will add $3 trillion to the $36.2 trillion national debt over the next decade, when interest payments are taken into account. Independent analysts have said the bill will effectively boost incomes for wealthier Americans and reduce incomes for the less affluent, due to cuts to Medicaid and other safety-net programs. Republicans have set a July 4 deadline to pass the bill out of Congress, giving the Senate three weeks to make changes, pass it and send it back to the House of Representatives. No Democrats voted for the bill in the House, and no Democratic supporters for it have emerged in the Senate. So Republicans who hold a slim 53-47 Senate majority must reconcile demands of budget hawks who want deeper spending cuts against concerns of others worried about the toll on rural and working-class voters who helped elect Trump. An internal Republican poll in May found voters in the most competitive congressional districts would be less likely to vote for a Republican who supported cutting Medicaid to pay for tax cuts. The upper chamber's slower pace has given interest groups time to seek changes to the 1,100-page bill. Multinational companies seek to neutralize a retaliatory tax they say could discourage investment in the U.S. Some states are fighting a provision that would prevent them from regulating artificial intelligence. Solar-energy companies warn the bill could devastate their industry by revoking subsidies for green energy. Much opposition has focused on changes to Medicaid, which covers 71 million low-income Americans. The bill would cut spending on Medicaid, which represented about 9% of the $6.8 trillion federal budget last year, by requiring adult recipients to work, excluding non-citizens and limiting an accounting mechanism states use to boost the federal government's contribution. Overall, the bill would leave 10.9 million more people without insurance, CBO estimates. Any cuts to Medicaid would hit hard in rural areas and small towns, where roughly 18% of adults are enrolled in Medicaid compared with 16% for the country as a whole, according to Georgetown University's Center for Children and Families. Rural residents tend to be sicker, with higher rates of addiction, mental illness, and mortality from heart disease, cancer and stroke, the center found. The National Rural Health Association said the bill could force providers to cut services or close. Nearly half of rural hospitals currently lose money, and 120 have closed or stopped offering inpatient services over the past decade, the trade group says. The cuts could be especially acute in Kansas. The state recently increased its tax on Medicaid providers from 3% to 6%, an accounting maneuver that would effectively boost the federal government's contribution. The provider tax has been widely criticized as a gimmick or loophole that does not accurately reflect how much money is actually being spent on medical care. The bill would block that increase, freezing the state's provider tax at a lower level than in many other states. Lutz said that would reduce Holton Hospital's $22 million annual revenue by roughly $1 million - a significant hit for an organization that typically spends more money than it takes in each year. Tighter Medicaid enrollment standards, meanwhile, would increase red tape for hospital staff, while the citizenship provisions could exclude the town's Guatemalan immigrants, she said. With those changes, she said, the hospital would have to treat more uninsured patients. At least 41 of the Senate's 53 Republicans represent rural states, and several said they will work to remove the bill's limits on the provider tax. "Leave the provider tax alone. Put the work requirements in and all that kind of stuff. But for God's sakes don't cut into the bone," said Senator Jim Justice of West Virginia. The Senate Finance Committee could unveil changes to the House-passed bill in coming days. Failure to tackle that issue, they say, could leave many of their residents without reliable access to care. "If we don't get it right, doctors do not have to serve Medicaid patients and so in rural areas we could have doctors exit and I don't think our members from rural states would want that," said Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
