Trump to invoke wartime powers as Guantanamo Bay readies for heavy influx of illegal aliens

The U.S. Naval Station in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, was recently emptied of illegal immigrants, but it will soon be brimming with new arrivals as President Donald Trump gets ready to invoke wartime powers to speed up deportations of dangerous aliens, Just the News has learned.

A source familiar with the administration's plans told Just the News that Trump is planning to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 as early as Friday in an effort to combat the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and other criminal aliens and to use Guantánamo Bay to detain them. The source spoke only on condition of anonymity because the source wasn't authorized to talk to the news media.

The Homeland Security Department declined to comment, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to a request for comment Thursday. 

A congressman who visited Guantanamo Bay this week also disclosed the first wave of illegal aliens taken to the island facility were being deported home already, and the facility was adapted so that more dangerous detainees can be held in prison-like structures while non-violent aliens stay in tent-like structures.

"So it's a slow start right now, because when I was there, they had about 20 of the high threat illegal immigrants, and then they had about 70 of the low level threats. But, they're just getting started and ramping up. But I was assured that they're going to be successful in this mission,” Rep. Abe Hamadeh, R-Ariz., told the Just the News, No Noise television show. 

The late 18th century act would give the president broad authority to remove illegal aliens under conditions of hostile invasion, though the use of the law will likely face court challenges.

The Washington Post reported Wednesday that "The American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Constitutional Rights and other organizations have filed two separate lawsuits requesting that 13 migrants in U.S. detention be blocked from transfer to Guantánamo."

The Trump administration recently emptied the detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay to prepare for the operation, shipping the roughly 40 detainees held at the base back to the United States to a detention facility in Louisiana. A defense official confirmed to Just the News that there are currently no immigrants being held at the naval station. This spurred suggestions that the administration had ended its use of the base for immigration enforcement. 

Costly military flights and logistics issues have raised questions about the viability of Guantánamo Bay for deportation operations. 

Designed for aliens deemed particularly dangerous 

Trump has specifically targeted Tren de Aragua as part of his broader illegal immigration crackdown, designating the gang and several Latin American gangs and drug cartels, as foreign terrorist organizations. 

Tren de Aragua, which was formed as a prison gang in Venezuela and has a reputation for violence, has grown in the United States, exploiting porous borders and first being encountered by border patrol agents in El Paso, Texas. Now the gang has spread across the country, linked to over 500 arrests in New York City, neighborhood violence in Denver, and a number of murders elsewhere. The gang is also involved in human trafficking and drug smuggling operations. 

Trump also laid eyes on Guantánamo Bay early in his presidency with designs to use the base as a hub for detention and deportation operations. The administration has been building out the facilities at the naval station to house more dangerous aliens, like gang members or those accused of heinous crimes. 

Five days after taking office, Trump signed an executive order directing the Secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security to expand the Migrant Operations Center at Guantánamo Bay as part of the administration’s efforts to combat the “border invasion.” 

Hamadeh said the administration is expanding facilities to handle dangerous illegal aliens, like the Tren de Aragua gang members. 

“There's two locations where we're housing illegal immigrants down there. So one of them is the higher threat illegal immigrants that you know, these are the ones who have committed more serious felonies, that they've been put in in a prison facility that's similar to what people think of a Guantánamo Bay,”  he explained. 

“The other one is for low level offenses, typically, and that one's a more tent style, and they want to ramp it up to eventually have 30,000 illegal immigrants there, because ICE is at capacity, pretty much right now."