SCOOP: Congress Eyes CODEL to Guantanamo

Lawmakers push for bipartisan trips to oversee Trump’s expanded detention center, but will they get past the gift shop?

WASHINGTON—Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA) didn’t mince words when asked if he’d join a bipartisan congressional delegation (CODEL) to the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

“Absolutely!” he declared during a brief interview outside the Capitol on Thursday. A member of both the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees, McCormick emphasized the overlapping jurisdiction his panels hold over the base, particularly its controversial use as a migrant detention facility.

Recent reporting, including a Miami Herald exposé, revealed that some detainees face incarceration for minor infractions: biking on the wrong side of the road, crossing the Rio Grande on foot, or shoplifting at Target—offenses that have fueled debate over the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown.

The push for a CODEL comes as Guantanamo’s role in detaining migrants has intensified under President Donald Trump’s directive, issued January 30, 2025, to expand the base’s Migrant Operations Center (MOC) to …