President Trump has ordered the construction of a 30,000-bed facility to hold migrants at the notorious US naval facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, as part of his mass deportation campaign. The US base has been used to house terrorism suspects since 2002, becoming synonymous with torture and unlawful imprisonment. The US has secretively detained refugees and migrants intercepted at sea at Guantánamo Bay for decades, but the facility has not previously been used for people apprehended on US soil or at this scale.

In its first weeks in office, the Trump administration has launched a campaign to round up and deport thousands of undocumented people. Stepped-up deportation flights to Latin American countries are already causing concern and controversy, with Latin American leaders saying deportees are being subjected to inhuman treatment. As a result, on Jan. 26, Colombia announced it would not allow US deportation flights to land, but quickly reversed course after Trump threatened steep financial penalties if it did not comply.

From The New Humanitarian, Jan. 31.