Major legal, logistical and financial problems have caused the administration to reconsider President Donald Trump's plan to use the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay to detain 30,000 illegal migrants, NBC News reported on Wednesday.
NBC spoke with nine people familiar with the situation at Guantánamo and the administration's handling of the issue. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the matter with the media.
A major problem has been the cost of flying the migrants there, which is much more expensive than keeping the detainees on the mainland, according to the sources. This has been particularly problematic because the Trump administration has been emphasizing its efforts to severely cut spending throughout the government.
Officials said that since other options, including holding illegal migrants at military bases in the United States, would be cheaper and more efficient, a much smaller version of Trump's Guantánamo plan seems the likeliest outcome.
In addition, another major problem has been that the space planned to hold the 30,000 illegal migrants is far from ready, with tents built for that purpose failing to meet ICE standards for detention, according to two defense officials.
A large part of the disorganization in the entire matter, according to both a DHS and a congressional official, is that Trump totally surprised many top officials in his administration when he made the announcement, and no plans had been explored for how it was to be done.
One such example was that the naval base was not close to being equipped to hold the 30,000 migrants Trump said it would.
Making matters worse, according to NBC, was that the military, worried that it would be blamed if the effort failed, initially boosted resources significantly to Guantánamo to support the mission even though it had not yet received clear policy guidance outlining its role, the officials said.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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