During the first month of his administration, President Donald Trump announced he would send up migrants to a facility in Guantanamo Bay, which could hold up to 30,000 migrants. However, his plans have faced difficulties in materializing, with the location only being able to house 300 immigrants at a time and recently flying all remaining ones back to the U.S.
The operation to send migrants to the naval base has been expensive, costing the government at least $16 million when it is trying to cut down on spending across the board.
The plans seem to be fizzling out altogether. U.S. Southern Command, which is responsible for military operations at the base, has started making plans to draw down from the roughly 1,000 military personnel deployed there in the coming weeks, according to a new report by The Wall Street Journal.
A defense official is quoted by the outlet saying that the administration is planning to repurpose 195 large tents, which are lined with about a dozen or more cots, since they have sat unused for weeks. He added that no flights have been scheduled for migrants to arrive at the naval base.
The tents themselves have been a major point of contention within the administration. According to the Journal, they were incompatible with the government's standards. They are open to the elements, lack air conditioning, smell of mold and sit atop grass and dirt with no flooring, and have cost $3.1 million to get out of storage and set up.
"They are proceeding with the orders of the president despite the fact that every single person there has to know that this is not an option," said Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii) who visited Guantanamo on Friday and received a briefing by officials there.
Right now, the government has the capacity to hold 180 migrants in Guantanamo. If tents were equipped with utilities like air conditioning, authorities would be able to detain up to 3,120 more migrants.
But facility issues are not the only hurdle the administration is facing. In fact, the president's plan is also facing legal scrutiny from human rights groups that question the constitutionality of sending migrants to Guantanamo. The initial detainees there said they were rarely let outside and that several migrants considered killing themselves or tried to.
On Friday, a federal judge will hear a case concerning the use of the facility, stemming from a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, along with other immigrant advocacy groups. The lawsuit calls into question whether immigrants can legally be transferred from the U.S. to Guantanamo.
The Trump administration had initially characterized the migrants sent to Guantanamo as the "worst of the worst," they have also said some of those detained there are "low-threat" individuals who were being held at the migrant operations center. The "high-threat" migrants were being held in the military prison.
As of Thursday, there were no migrants detained at Guantanamo, with the 40 people remaining there being flown back to the U.S. this week. It remains unclear where the men, some of whom are considered "high threat," had been moved to, but multiple outlets reported they were being transported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) aircraft Tuesday and relocated to one or more of the agency's facilities in Louisiana.
Given the significant challenges the administration has faced, it is unknown if they will continue to hold migrants at the naval base, The Hill reports.
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