*United States President Trump launches what his second administration is casting as a major effort at combating illegal migration, trumpeting immigration raids, arrests, and deportations on military aircraft first to Latin America and the US notorious Guantanamo military base, in Cuba

Isola Moses | 绿帽献妻

As United States (US) President Donald Trump administration continues to remove illegal immigrants from the American country, the first flights carrying detained migrants to America鈥檚 notorious Guantanamo military base, in Cuba, were underway Tuesday, February 4, 2025.

President Trump has launched what his second administration is casting as a major effort at combating illegal migration, trumpeting immigration raids, arrests, and deportations on military aircraft first to the Latin America.

Guantanamo is primarily known as a detention centre for suspects accused of terrorism-related offences.

The base also has a history of being used to hold migrants, and President Trump last week ordered the preparation of a 30,000-person 鈥渕igrant facility鈥� there, agency report said.

Trump鈥檚 administration is cracking down on illegal migration, the White House said.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said: 鈥淭oday, the first flights from the United States to Guantanamo Bay with illegal migrants are underway.鈥�

Earlier, report indicated that US Department of Defence image released February 2 had shown US Marines as they conducted preflight checks on a KC-130J Super Hercules at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, in preparation for deployment of troops to Naval Station Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to support Migrant Holding Operations.

Guantanamo as a site of ‘unparalleled notoriety’

The Guantanamo prison was opened in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and has been used to indefinitely hold detainees seized during the wars and other operations that followed, report also noted.

The conditions there have prompted consistent outcry from rights groups, and United Nations (UN) experts have condemned it as a site of 鈥渦nparalleled notoriety.鈥�

It is noted that former US Democratic Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden both sought to close the facility, but the Congress has opposed efforts at closing Guantanamo, and it remains open till this day.

The notorious facility still holds 15 people incarcerated for militant activity or terrorism-related offences, but migrants will be detained in a separate part of the base, AFP report said.

According to US Southern Command, there are some 300 American military personnel at Guantanamo supporting 鈥渋llegal alien holding operations.鈥�