The US administration of President Donald Trump plans to send thousands of unauthorised migrants to Guantanamo Bay as it continues to clamp down on illegal immigration, Politico reported on Tuesday.
As many as 9,000 people are being vetted for transfer and some could be sent to the remote naval base on Cuba as soon as Wednesday.
Politico reported that about 800 Europeans are being considered for transfer, a potentially alarming move given allied nations' willingness to take back any citizens who face deportation.
Mr Trump in January signed an order for the US to prepare to send tens of thousands of the “worst criminal illegal aliens” to Guantanamo Bay. He said at the time that there is room for 30,000 people.
State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said those being sent to Guantanamo Bay, better known for its indefinite imprisonment of the suspected September 11, 2001 plotters, would be returned home.
“It's not new that we are moving criminal illegal aliens to Guantanamo,” she told reporters on Tuesday. “It's not the final destination. It's prior to their being sent to their home country.”
Ms Bruce added that “they are being removed because they didn't have a legal basis to be in the United States”.
In a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's use of Guantanamo Bay to house migrants, the American Civil Liberties Union has said the government has no legitimate purpose in doing so.
“Instead, defendants are using the threat of detention at Guantanamo to frighten immigrants, deter future migration, induce self-deportation, and coerce people in detention to give up claims against removal and accept deportation elsewhere,” the ACLU wrote.
"These are impermissible justifications for civil immigration detention.”
