Defense Secretary Hegseth to Visit Guantanamo Bay Amid Migrant Detention Concerns

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is scheduled to visit the US military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Tuesday, raising questions about the Trump administration’s ongoing use of the facility for detaining undocumented migrants, Bloomberg reports.

According to a Defense Department statement, Hegseth will tour both the “Migrant Operations Center” and the infamous “Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility,” the latter known for housing suspected terrorists and enemy combatants following the September 11, 2001, attacks and during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He will also receive briefings on all mission operations at the base.

The visit comes after the Trump administration’s decision to use Guantanamo Bay as a migrant detention center, a controversial move that has drawn criticism from human rights organizations. About 180 Venezuelans had been transported to the base before being flown back to Venezuela last week.

In January, President Trump vowed to send “the worst criminal aliens” to the island base.

The Defense Department statement issued Monday night reiterated that the Defense Secretary’s trip “also facilitates temporary detention of illegal aliens who are pending return to their country of origin or other appropriate destination.”

The use of Guantanamo Bay for migrant detention raises significant legal and ethical concerns, given the facility’s association with controversial interrogation techniques and indefinite detention practices. Critics argue that detaining migrants at Guantanamo is a misuse of the base and further stigmatizes the already vulnerable population.

Secretary Hegseth himself served at Guantanamo after joining the Army National Guard. The base has been under American control since 1903.