Senators tour Guantanamo Bay, criticize misuse of military and taxpayer dollars

• A delegation of U.S. senators visited Guantanamo Bay to assess the handling of deported migrants by the Department of Defense. They criticized the operation, calling it a waste of military resources and a misuse of taxpayer money.
• Senators were briefed on the high operational costs at Guantanamo, which reached $40 million for a six-week period.
• The senators are urging President Trump to halt the relocation of migrants to Guantanamo Bay.

Full Story

A delegation of Democratic and independent U.S. senators visited Guantanamo Bay this past weekend to evaluate how the Department of Defense is handling the relocation of deported migrants. After returning from the naval base in Cuba, the five senators described the operation as a waste of U.S. military resources and disrespectful to American taxpayers.

Operation costs exceed expectations

Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, led the delegation. According to congressional aides who spoke with The New York Times, Reed and other lawmakers were briefed on the operation costs at Guantanamo, which reached $40 million as of March 12. This estimate covers a six-week period during which 290 migrants were relocated to the facility.

The population at the base has since dropped to about 85 migrants. In total, fewer than 400 men have been housed there under President Donald Trump’s executive order, which initially aimed to house up to 30,000 migrants.

The directive, issued Jan. 29, stated the base should be used at full capacity “To provide additional detention space for high-priority criminal aliens unlawfully present in the United States, and to address attendant immigration enforcement needs identified by the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security.”

Ongoing logistical and financial challenges

The operation has faced significant logistical, financial and legal difficulties. The administration has relied on costly military and commercial flights to move migrants, which raised concerns from the senators about the effectiveness of the order.

In a joint statement, the senators said, “President Trump could implement his immigration policies for a fraction of the cost by using existing ICE facilities in the U.S., but he is obsessed with the image of using Guantanamo, no matter the cost.”

Reed was joined by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Gary Peters, D-Mich., Angus King, I-Maine, and Alex Padilla, D-Calif. The senators stated that the trip was the only way they could get answers from the Trump administration, as they claim Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem bypassed Congress to carry out immigration enforcement.

Senators meet with military personnel and call for change

During their visit, the senators met with the facility’s about 1,000 employees and military personnel. The delegation thanked the employees for their dedication to national security but criticized the misuse of military resources.

The senators remarked, “We met with dozens of service members who were rushed to Guantanamo Bay without notice, leaving their critical day-to-day military missions behind in order to build tents that should never be filled and guard immigrants who should never be held there.”

While at the base, the delegation witnessed more than a dozen migrants arriving at the facility from Louisiana. Just hours after their visit, another small group was brought to the base on a military plane. Earlier in March, 40 men were flown back to the U.S., and before that, 48 other migrants were returned from Guantanamo without explanation.

The senators are now calling on President Trump to halt the relocation of migrants to Guantanamo Bay and to operate under a legal authority that does not undermine the military’s readiness.