{"id":2995,"date":"2025-07-30T04:05:23","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T08:05:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/2025\/07\/civil-rights-groups-sue-trump-admin-for-information-on-detention-of-immigrants-at-guantanamo\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T04:05:23","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T08:05:23","slug":"civil-rights-groups-sue-trump-admin-for-information-on-detention-of-immigrants-at-guantanamo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/?p=2995","title":{"rendered":"Civil Rights Groups Sue Trump Admin for Information on Detention of Immigrants at Guant\u00e1namo"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Civil rights groups today filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit seeking information on the Trump Administration\u2019s detention of immigrants at the U.S. Naval Base in Guant\u00e1namo Bay, Cuba. The move comes after the administration sent approximately 500 noncitizens to Guant\u00e1namo without due process and amid reports that it plans to detain thousands more there. Despite attempting to expand this notorious prison camp \u2013 associated at its core with torture and lawlessness \u2013 the administration is continuing to operate in secrecy about who they are sending there and why, as well as the likely terrible conditions for individuals detained there.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know from over 30 years of challenging unlawful detentions in Guant\u00e1namo, that the government has always attempted to shield its operations there from the law and public scrutiny, which has produced a legacy of torture, suffering, and systemic human rights violations,\u201d said Ayla Kadah, Staff Attorney and Justice Fellow at the Center for Constitutional Rights.<\/strong> \u201cThat the Trump administration is openly embracing this very symbol of lawlessness and brutality \u2013 while refusing to provide any information about conditions or their legal authority \u2013 leads us to fear the worst of Guant\u00e1namo is happening again. We will continue our decades-long fight for accountability and to finally shutter this dark island prison.\u201d<\/p>\n

On January 29th, Trump issued an executive order<\/u><\/a> to expand to \u201cfull capacity\u201d the Guant\u00e1namo Migrant Operations Center (GMOC), a detention facility located on the naval base along with the infamous island prison where, in the name of fighting terrorism, the Bush administration detained and tortured hundreds of Muslim men and boys after 9\/11. The Trump administration has denied immigrants at Guant\u00e1namo meaningful access to attorneys and the ability to challenge their detention. Those who have been detained there report brutal conditions: solitary confinement in windowless cells for at least 23 hours a day, invasive strip searches, extreme temperatures, a lack of food and medical care, and long hours in a \u201cpunishment chair,\u201d all of which have led to several suicide attempts.<\/p>\n

Brought by the Haitian Bridge Alliance, Detention Watch Network, and the Center for Constitutional Rights, the suit follows the administration\u2019s failure to comply with the groups\u2019 February FOIA request. The suit seeks information on, among other subjects, the claimed legal basis for detaining immigrants at Guant\u00e1namo, the criteria for sending them there, their identities, whether they face interrogation and, if so, by whom and for what purpose, which agency or agencies have custody over them, and the roles of each agency \u2013 whether, for example, the Defense Department is involved in civilian law enforcement. <\/p>\n

Said Setareh Ghandehari, Advocacy Director of Detention Watch Network<\/strong>, \u201cGuant\u00e1namo Bay\u2019s abusive history speaks for itself. The Trump administration\u2019s plans to massively expand ICE detention at Guant\u00e1namo jeopardizes the mental and physical health of immigrants, separates families, and upends communities across the United States.The intentional withholding of information about these plans, paired with ICE\u2019s culture of secrecy, is yet another hallmark of an authoritarian regime. The result of Trump’s cruel mass detention and deportation agenda so far is an exacerbation of inhumane conditions in ICE detention<\/u><\/a>, with increasing reports of death, medical neglect, overcrowding, lack of food, and rampant transfers that cut people off from their loved ones and support networks. Detention in remote locations, like Guant\u00e1namo, amplifies these harms. Communities across the country are watching daily as their family members, friends, coworkers, and neighbors are being violently targeted and disappeared by ICE. Transparency into Trump’s plans at Guant\u00e1namo is critical for oversight and accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Historically, the U.S. government has detained people at Guant\u00e1namo to try to evade the law, and, after 9\/11, it became a site and symbol of torture and other human rights abuses. But litigation<\/u><\/a> by the Center of Constitutional Rights yielded a 2008 Supreme Court ruling that people held at Guantanamo have the constitutional right to challenge their detention. At the same time, sporadic efforts by the Bush, Obama, and Biden administrations, spurred by years of political and legal advocacy, had reduced the population of the \u201cwar on terror\u201d prison to only 15. The Trump administration is breaking with these trends, detaining a large number of people at Guant\u00e1namo while denying them basic legal and human rights. This also marks the first time that the government has transferred people there from the territorial United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe U.S. government has used Guant\u00e1namo as a key piece in its prevention through deterrence migration strategy for decades,\u201d said Erik Crew, Staff Attorney with Haitian Bridge Alliance<\/strong>, \u201cwhere the goal is to punish certain migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers who attempt to seek internationally-mandated humanitarian protection in the United States. Detention at Guant\u00e1namo is valuable to the U.S. government because it continues to use it as a legal black hole where rights don\u2019t apply. Civil society organizations like HBA and our partners will continue to fight against this lawlessness in U.S. and international human rights fora. We, the people of the U.S. and the people of the world, need transparency here, and we will fight for it.\u201d <\/p>\n

The suit seeks all relevant records from the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, the Department of State, and Citizenship and Immigration Services. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Civil rights groups today filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit seeking information on the Trump Administration\u2019s detention of immigrants at the U.S. Naval Base in Guant\u00e1namo Bay, Cuba. The move comes after the administration sent approximately 500 noncitizens to Guant\u00e1namo without due process and amid reports that it plans to detain thousands more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"registered_only","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[742],"class_list":["post-2995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ciencia-y-tecnologia","tag-vr-news-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2995\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}