Groups sue to block Trump from sending migrants to Guantánamo Bay

• Several legal groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, alleging that deporting migrants to Guantánamo Bay is illegal and unconstitutional. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of 10 migrants who are at imminent risk of being sent to the prison.
• The suit claims that moving these migrants to Guantánamo Bay is “arbitrary and capricious,” violating federal law and the U.S. Constitution.
• Since his second term began, Trump has sent more than 200 migrants to Guantánamo Bay.

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Legal groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration. The lawsuit alleges they are breaking the law and Constitution by deporting migrants to Guantánamo Bay.

The legal groups filed the lawsuit in Washington, D.C., federal court on behalf of 10 migrants. The migrants say they are at imminent risk of being sent to the prison.

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The suit alleges moving these migrants to the prison, located in Cuba, is “arbitrary and capricious.” It claims that it violated federal law and the U.S. Constitution, citing the Administrative Procedure Act and the Fifth Amendment.

The legal groups said they aren’t challenging President Donald Trump’s authority to detain migrants on U.S. soil and deport them. However, they are challenging Trump’s choice to send them to Guantánamo.

The suit maintains there’s no legitimate reason to send the migrants there because the U.S. has ample detention facilities inside the country. It claims the Trump administration is doing this to “instill fear in the immigrant population.”

How many people has Trump sent to Guantánamo?

Since he began his second term, Trump has sent more than 200 migrants to Guantánamo Bay. The administration said it was just holding them there until it found a place to put them. Trump officials said they were working with other countries to take the migrants. Venezuela accepted many of them. However, more migrants were brought to the prison following the transfer.

The legal groups have previously filed a lawsuit relating to migrants imprisoned at Guantánamo. In February, the groups filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration that demanded migrants at the prison be given lawyers. That lawsuit is pending.

What’s the history of Guantánamo Bay

Guantánamo Bay was opened in January 2002, following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S. Since its opening, it was primarily used to hold terrorism suspects and those with ties to terror groups.

During Trump’s first term, he vowed to keep the prison open. Former President Joe Biden said in February 2021 that he planned to close the prison before the end of this term, which never happened.

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During the prison’s history, several allegations have been made against it. A report from 2004 claimed that the military was using techniques to extract information that were “tantamount to torture.”