Guantanamo Migrant Experiment Ends Abruptly After Lawmakers Visit
"I just felt like before people started asking me questions, I ought to go see the place," said House Armed Services Committee chairman Mike Rogers (AUDIO)
WASHINGTON — All 40 migrants held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility have been transferred back to the U.S. mainland and are now being held in Louisiana, according to U.S. defense officials. The relocation, completed Tuesday, marks the end of a brief effort to house migrants at the naval base in Cuba, with no further flights scheduled to bring detainees there, officials told Voice of America. This shift follows a congressional delegation’s inspection of the facility on March 8 and comes amid debates over its use for migrant detention.
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As lawmakers debated the continuing resolution budget on Capitol Hill, Migrant Insider was notified by a top Democrat about the bipartisan congressional delegation that quietly visited Guantanamo Bay on March 8. Rep. Carlos Giménez (R-FL), confirmed that he, along with House Armed Services Committee chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL), and Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA), traveled to the facility. Rogers later clarified that the visit was his own initiative, not a Democratic request, stating, "I just felt like before people started asking me questions, I ought to go see the place."
Giménez, who was born in Cuba and left at age 6, described the trip as a personal experience, marking his first return to Cuba in over 64 years. "They’re preparing to house migrants there as kind of like a waypoint before they go on to their third country or back to their country of origin," he said, noting upgrades to the facilities. He described conditions as "fine" and comparable to U.S. correctional facilities, with secure areas similar to jails in Miami-Dade County. Migrants were housed in two separate areas — one for those considered security risks and another for non-violent individuals — though only a handful were present, and lawmakers were not allowed to interact with them.
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Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said he was unaware of any Democratic-led initiative to request a visit but learned from three legislators during votes that they had gone. He planned to follow up on details the next day. Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-MN), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, acknowledged the bipartisan visit but said he was "unaware" of Democrats specifically requesting to join. When asked if Rogers would deny a Democratic request, Van Orden said, "I don’t know why they [Republicans] would say no."
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Congress’s top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee on Immigration, confirmed she knew of the visit and that Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX), participated. For his part, Rogers noted that most of the delegation were Democrats, including Reps. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA)., and Sarah Jacobs (D-CA). He said the facility held 30 to 40 detainees during the visit, far below its 175-person capacity, with high-risk individuals in a jail-like setting and low-risk migrants in hotel-style rooms or tents.
Rogers expressed skepticism about reports of a 30,000-detainee capacity, saying, "I don’t think they’ll ever have 3,000 down there because they’re doing such a good job of processing people already." He clarified that only those with final removal orders would be sent to Guantanamo as a staging point, with stays averaging less than two weeks. Asked about Democratic requests for future visits, Rogers said he has given the committee’s ranking member authority to approve delegations.
For now, it’s unclear whether additional CODELs to Guantanamo will be approved, or whether the Trump administration plans to continue warehousing migrant detainees at the Naval base. What is becoming increasingly clear was that the Trump administration’s experiment with housing migrants at Guantanamo was wildly expensive, with cost estimates as high as $300,000 per migrant detainee per year—nearly five times the mainland average.
Meanwhile, lawmakers like Reps. Delia Ramirez (D-Il) and Gabe Vasquez (D-NM) are already eyeing follow-up visits which, we have learned, can be unilaterally approved by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Migrant Insider will keep tracking whether Gitmo’s gates reopen or stay shut for good.
AUDIO: Interviews with Carlos Giménez and Mike Rogers
Pablo interviewed Giménez, whose audio is available below.
Nico later spoke with Rogers, whose full audio responses are also below.
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