ACLU sues to block migrant transfers to Guantanamo

2/3/2025 6:17

A U.S. civil rights group on Saturday sued to block the Trump administration from potentially transferring 10 migrants from the U.S. to a naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detailing harsh conditions and suicide attempts among migrants held there.



The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., said the transfers violate U.S. immigration law by moving the detainees outside of the country and aim to stoke fear without a legitimate rationale.



The 10 detainees in the lawsuit are men from Venezuela,Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan with final deportation orders, including some who have been threatened with transfer to Guantanamo, ACLU said. The men, currently held in Texas, Arizona and Virginia, are not gang members or high-risk criminals, ACLU said.



President Donald Trump, a Republican, has vowed to deport record numbers of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally. As part of efforts to expand deportations, the administration in early February began sending migrants to a detention camp on the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, best known for holding foreign terrorism suspects.