Trump's Guantanamo Dream: 30,000 Migrants Promised, But the Base is Mostly Vacant

Just eight days back in the White House, President Trump unveiled a jaw-dropping plan: transform Guantanamo Bay into a sprawling detention center for 30,000 migrants facing deportation. This was part of his hardline stance on illegal immigration, a move that sent shockwaves through the political landscape.

Fast forward a year, and what do we find? A CBS News investigation into internal government documents reveals that Guantanamo's detention facilities are largely empty. Despite the grandiose promises, the operation is projected to drain over $70 million from American taxpayers.

As of May 11, only six immigration detainees—Haitian nationals—were being held at the naval base. Over the past year, a mere 832 detainees have been flown in on more than 100 flights. The numbers tell a stark story: there are significantly more government employees assigned to this operation than actual detainees. In fact, this week, the ratio was an astonishing 100 to 1.

Documents show that the Department of Defense has deployed 522 personnel to manage immigration detention at Guantanamo. Add to that around 60 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement staff, and you have a workforce that dwarfs the number of detainees.

In April, Senator Elizabeth Warren received information indicating that the Guantanamo operation's cost had ballooned to $73 million—up from an earlier estimate of $40 million. Trump had promised in January 2025 that officials would set up 30,000 detention beds at Guantanamo, but internal documents reveal the base can only accommodate about 400 beds. As of mid-May, fewer than 2% of those beds were occupied.

The documents paint a troubling picture of this controversial initiative to detain civil immigration detainees at Guantanamo—a site infamous for its post-9/11 terrorism suspects and allegations of abuse and torture.

Warren didn't hold back in her criticism, accusing Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of "wasting billions in taxpayer funds on a cruel immigration agenda." Meanwhile, the Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security have been tight-lipped about whether this operation will continue.

DHS spokeswoman Lauren Bis made it clear: "If you come to our country illegally and break our laws, you could end up in Guantanamo Bay." The message is blunt—criminal illegal aliens are not welcome here.

Publicly, details about the operation remain scarce. The U.S. maintains that it leases the land at Guantanamo from Cuba, while the Cuban government argues that this arrangement is illegal.

Historically, Guantanamo has housed migrants intercepted at sea, including tens of thousands of Haitians during the Clinton era. However, in February 2025, the Trump administration began sending groups of detainees arrested by ICE in the U.S. to Guantanamo for deportation processing. Initially, Trump claimed only the "worst" offenders would be sent there, but reports soon revealed a different reality.

CBS News uncovered that Guantanamo was also holding migrants with alleged gang ties alongside those deemed "low-risk" with no serious criminal records. An internal memo governing the operation granted officials broad discretion over who could be sent to Guantanamo, including non-criminal detainees.

Detainees classified as "low-risk" are housed at the Migration Operations Center, while "high-risk" individuals are kept at Camp VI—a section of the post-9/11 prison complex still holding some terrorism suspects.

The legality of detaining civil immigration detainees at Guantanamo is under scrutiny. A federal judge recently ruled that this effort was "impermissibly punitive" and likely unlawful but stopped short of halting operations.

Lee Gelernt from the ACLU slammed the use of Guantanamo as "political theater," arguing it serves no legitimate policy goal given its financial and logistical burdens. "The Trump administration's use of Guantanamo is unprecedented and illegal," he stated.

Theresa Cardinal Brown, a former DHS official under both Bush and Obama, noted that Guantanamo was set up to push undocumented immigrants toward self-deportation and deter others from entering unlawfully. However, she pointed out that measuring its deterrent effect is challenging amid low illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border.

"Everything has to be shipped in there," she explained. "It's not like we're importing things from Cuba. Everything has to come from a U.S. source to that military installation. It's going to be much more expensive."