Venezuelan migrants deported by Trump to Guantanamo Bay are in military custody: Report

Many of the Venezuelan immigrants sent to the US military base in Guantanamo Bay by the Trump 2.0 administration are being guarded by military officials instead of normal immigration personnel.

A report by the New York Times has cited people familiar with the operation as saying that while the US government under President Donald Trump have said that the detainees are under the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), military troops and medics are looking after them.

Earlier this month, the US sent the first batch of migrants to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba after Trump announced plans to expand immigrant detention centres at the military base. POTUS has ordered the expansion of an existing migrant detention facility at the base to hold 30,000-odd people.

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Detainees housed in Camp 6

While there is little to no information about the immigrants held at the Bay except their nationality which was made public by the Department of Homeland Security, NYT says that 53 men have been housed in Camp 6. The facility was recently used to hold Al Qaeda suspects.

Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for Homeland Security, said the agency had sent nearly 100 individuals to Guantánamo Bay, all of whom had received final deportation orders. She added that each person “committed a crime by entering the United States illegally” and described the group as including “violent gang members and other high-threat illegal aliens.”

However, the news outlet has found that not all the detainees entered the US illegally and that some had requested asylum at the border but were eventually rejected.

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Abysmal living conditions

NYT also spoke to people who described the poor conditions the detainees are being housed in the Bay.

One person said that Camp 6 is unequipped and due for repairs with broken showers and doors to the point that they were rendered useless.

According to two individuals familiar with prison operations, the detainees are being provided with prepackaged military rations called MREs, or Meals Ready to Eat.