The U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, stood empty Thursday after the Trump administration transferred the last 18 migrants awaiting deportation, The New York Times reported.
The Department of Homeland Security transferred the remaining migrants on a charter flight to the U.S. on Wednesday, although the exact destination was not disclosed.
Since February, more than 600 U.S. government workers — mostly military personnel and 120 Homeland Security civilians — have supported the base's migration operations. Fewer than 700 migrants in total have been detained there, far short of the facility's envisioned capacity of tens of thousands.
The largest number of migrants held on a single day was 178 on Feb. 19, the Times reported. But the standard range of detainees was 1 to dozens, according to the report.
Military officials said 61 people remained in ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) custody at Guantanamo at the end of July. Since then, 16 deportation flights have taken detainees either back to the United States or on to other destinations, the Times reported.
On Jan. 29, President Donald Trump issued a memorandum directing the defense secretary and the homeland security secretary to expand the Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to full capacity. The stated goal was to provide additional detention space for "high-priority criminal aliens unlawfully present in the United States."
The first group of migrant detainees was flown to Guantanamo in early February, shortly after the execution of Trump's directive. The detainees were transported via U.S. military cargo aircraft.
The initial flight reportedly carried 10 detainees, classified as "high threat" and destined to be held in cells inside the naval base.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.