Gitmo should not become a forever holding cell for the undocumented | Opinion

Following through on his central campaign promise, President Donald Trump announced this week that he will send as many as 30,000 undocumented immigrants to be detained at the Guantánamo Naval Base in Cuba, some 430 miles from Miami.

This is not the first time the base has been used to hold refugees attempting to enter the United States illegally, primarily by sea from countries like Cuba and Haiti. Between 1992 and 1994, approximately 30,000 Cuban rafters were held there during an event that was widely regarded as a humanitarian crisis. Harsh economic conditions on the island had triggered the exodus.

Miami Cuban exiles, civil rights activists and the Catholic Church pleaded with the White House for the detainees’ release. The crisis was memorably symbolized by 12-year-old Lizbet Martínez, who played the U.S. national anthem on her violin for visiting media, crystallizing the hopes of those detained that they would reach the shores of the United States.

None of that feely-touchy stuff is likely to happen this time.

Since 9/11, Guantánamo has essentially served as a penal colony for suspected terrorists. At its peak, the housed 800 detainees; today, only 15 remain — individuals deemed too dangerous to ever be released.

Now, they will likely be joined by a new perceived threat to American security: undocumented immigrants. Trump’s decision — outlined in a White House memorandum ordering the base to ramp up to receive “high-priority criminal aliens unlawfully present in the United States, and to address attendant immigration enforcement needs” — helps to fulfill his core campaign promise of removing undocumented people from our country. Is this what Americans wanted? According to the election, yes.

However, it is clear that this administration’s approach to border control is more about political theater than security.

We do not support open borders or allowing undocumented criminals to remain in the U.S., but using Guantánamo as a massive migrant camp sends a signal that anyone housed there is a national security threat. Though the miIt equates them with terrorists and could easily result in denial of due process and humane treatment.

And the president’s language — “to address attendant immigration enforcement needs” — leaves plenty of wiggle room on who could be held there. By designating the base as a holding facility, Trump is not just enforcing immigration laws but weaponizing detention to instill fear.

The spectacle to come is meant to deter others from attempting to cross the border illegally. It will likely work. Who would risk ending up behind a chain-link fence in Gitmo?

As a companion move, Trump this week also signed the Laken Riley Act, named after a Georgia nursing student murdered by an undocumented immigrant. The law mandates “the federal detention of undocumented immigrants accused of crimes such as theft, burglary, assaulting law enforcement and any offense causing serious harm or death.”

In other words, it makes it easier to detain people who are in the U.S. illegally.

The move to reopen Gitmo may set a dangerous precedent if it means we treat asylum seekers and deportable immigrants as enemies of the state rather than individuals seeking refuge or opportunity. It violates fundamental human rights and international norms.

Even those who support stricter immigration enforcement should demand clear rules. Detainees should have serious felony records, a set time for detention and a Plan B in place if other countries refuse to accept their nationals. No one should be left in indefinite immigration limbo at Gitmo.

The U. S. has long prided itself on being a nation of immigrants, upholding due process, dignity and human rights. Putting thousands of immigrants on a virtual island prison is a betrayal of these principles.

Meanwhile, Cuba’s government has seized the opportunity to denounce the U.S. for human rights abuses.

Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel called the decision “an act of brutality,” while Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez condemned it as evidence of America’s “disregard for human dignity and international law.”

With the sweeping and vague language of Trump’s order and the notorious nature of Guantanamo as a place where human rights abuses can be kept out of sight, will the U.S. be able to defend itself against such accusations with a straight face?

Click here to send the letter.