Venezuelan migrants deported from U.S. Naval Station Guantánamo Bay disembark from a Venezuelan Conviasa Airlines plane at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela on February 20, 2025.
Rights Groups Sue Over Illegal Detention of Migrants at 'Notorious' Guantánamo
Migrants at the infamous torture site "are surrounded by military officials, deprived of in-person contact with legal counsel, and subject to punitive conditions of confinement," the suit says.
Immigrant rights advocates on Wednesday launched a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration for detaining migrants at the U.S. naval station in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba—the site of a "notorious" prison where several foreign men and boys were indefinitely held and tortured as part of the so-called War on Terror.
The class action suit was filed in the District of Columbia by the ACLU's national and D.C. arms, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the International Refugee Assistance Project against the secretaries of defense, homeland security, and state, as well as their departments, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and ICE's acting director.
The coalition brought the case on behalf of two Nicaraguan men previously detained a facilities in Virginia and Louisiana—Yamil Luna Gutierrez and Rafael Angel Lopez Ocon—and other noncitizens the Trump administration is now holding under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) in "disturbing" conditions at Guantánamo.
"Immigration detention outside the United States is straightforwardly illegal."
Rather than keeping these migrants in the United States "while making arrangements to effectuate their removal, the government has flown them hundreds of miles away to detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, for no legitimate purpose," the complaint states. "Plaintiffs are surrounded by military officials, deprived of in-person contact with legal counsel, and subject to punitive conditions of confinement, including in facilities previously used by the military to hold law-of-war detainees."
The plaintiffs, the filing says, "do not challenge the government's authority to detain them on U.S. soil or to directly remove them to their home country or to another statutorily authorized country. What they challenge is the government's unprecedented and unlawful decision to hold them in a detention facility at Guantánamo—which, under the INA, and for purposes of the application of that statute, is not the United States. Immigration detention outside the United States is straightforwardly illegal under the statute."
"Moreover," the document argues, "the government's use of Guantánamo for immigration detention is arbitrary and capricious, lacks any legitimate purpose, and imposes punitive detention conditions on immigration detainees in violation of their constitutional rights."
"Never before this administration has the federal government moved noncitizens apprehended and detained in the United States on civil immigration charges to Guantánamo, or to any other facility outside the United States, for the purpose of civil immigration detention. Nor is there any legitimate reason to do so," the document notes. "The government has ample detention capacity inside the United States, which is far less costly and poses none of the logistical hurdles attendant to detaining people at Guantánamo."
Specifically, according to the complaint, "since February 4, 2025, the government has held approximately 500 people in immigration detention at Guantánamo, at a reported cost of more than $40 million, or approximately $100,000 per day per detainee. In contrast, immigration detention at a U.S.-based detention facility costs, on average, $165 per day per detainee."
Previewing the Trump administration's likely arguments in court, the suit says that "in attempting to justify the transfers, the government has claimed that the individuals it is sending to Guantánamo are members of gangs and dangerous criminals—the 'worst of the worst.' That characterization has been proven wrong. Regardless, it is legally irrelevant."
The filing also stresses that "the government's real reason for holding immigration detainees at Guantánamo is to instill fear in the immigrant population. That is not conjecture; it is government policy."
The coalition is asking the court to rule that detaining these migrants at Guantánamo violates the INA, Administrative Procedure Act, and Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and to block the Trump administration from continuing to do so.
Urgent. It's never been this bad.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just hours left in our Spring Campaign, we're still falling short of our make-or-break goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Immigrant rights advocates on Wednesday launched a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration for detaining migrants at the U.S. naval station in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba—the site of a "notorious" prison where several foreign men and boys were indefinitely held and tortured as part of the so-called War on Terror.
The class action suit was filed in the District of Columbia by the ACLU's national and D.C. arms, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the International Refugee Assistance Project against the secretaries of defense, homeland security, and state, as well as their departments, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and ICE's acting director.
The coalition brought the case on behalf of two Nicaraguan men previously detained a facilities in Virginia and Louisiana—Yamil Luna Gutierrez and Rafael Angel Lopez Ocon—and other noncitizens the Trump administration is now holding under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) in "disturbing" conditions at Guantánamo.
"Immigration detention outside the United States is straightforwardly illegal."
Rather than keeping these migrants in the United States "while making arrangements to effectuate their removal, the government has flown them hundreds of miles away to detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, for no legitimate purpose," the complaint states. "Plaintiffs are surrounded by military officials, deprived of in-person contact with legal counsel, and subject to punitive conditions of confinement, including in facilities previously used by the military to hold law-of-war detainees."
The plaintiffs, the filing says, "do not challenge the government's authority to detain them on U.S. soil or to directly remove them to their home country or to another statutorily authorized country. What they challenge is the government's unprecedented and unlawful decision to hold them in a detention facility at Guantánamo—which, under the INA, and for purposes of the application of that statute, is not the United States. Immigration detention outside the United States is straightforwardly illegal under the statute."
"Moreover," the document argues, "the government's use of Guantánamo for immigration detention is arbitrary and capricious, lacks any legitimate purpose, and imposes punitive detention conditions on immigration detainees in violation of their constitutional rights."
"Never before this administration has the federal government moved noncitizens apprehended and detained in the United States on civil immigration charges to Guantánamo, or to any other facility outside the United States, for the purpose of civil immigration detention. Nor is there any legitimate reason to do so," the document notes. "The government has ample detention capacity inside the United States, which is far less costly and poses none of the logistical hurdles attendant to detaining people at Guantánamo."
Specifically, according to the complaint, "since February 4, 2025, the government has held approximately 500 people in immigration detention at Guantánamo, at a reported cost of more than $40 million, or approximately $100,000 per day per detainee. In contrast, immigration detention at a U.S.-based detention facility costs, on average, $165 per day per detainee."
Previewing the Trump administration's likely arguments in court, the suit says that "in attempting to justify the transfers, the government has claimed that the individuals it is sending to Guantánamo are members of gangs and dangerous criminals—the 'worst of the worst.' That characterization has been proven wrong. Regardless, it is legally irrelevant."
The filing also stresses that "the government's real reason for holding immigration detainees at Guantánamo is to instill fear in the immigrant population. That is not conjecture; it is government policy."
The coalition is asking the court to rule that detaining these migrants at Guantánamo violates the INA, Administrative Procedure Act, and Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and to block the Trump administration from continuing to do so.
- 'We Have 30,000 Beds': Trump to Order Gitmo Prepared as Offshore Prison for Migrants ›
- 'Moral Crisis for This Nation': Trump Sued Over Access to Gitmo Prisoners Held 'Illegally' Offshore ›
- 'He's Building a Concentration Camp': Fears Grow as Images Emerge of Offshore Prison at Gitmo ›
- Trump Has Begun Deportation Flights to Feared 'American Gulag' at Gitmo ›
- Trump Plan for Migrant Prison Camp at Gitmo Should 'Horrify Us All' ›
- White House Denies Trump Prepping to Send Thousands More Migrants to Guantánamo | Common Dreams ›
Immigrant rights advocates on Wednesday launched a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration for detaining migrants at the U.S. naval station in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba—the site of a "notorious" prison where several foreign men and boys were indefinitely held and tortured as part of the so-called War on Terror.
The class action suit was filed in the District of Columbia by the ACLU's national and D.C. arms, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the International Refugee Assistance Project against the secretaries of defense, homeland security, and state, as well as their departments, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and ICE's acting director.
The coalition brought the case on behalf of two Nicaraguan men previously detained a facilities in Virginia and Louisiana—Yamil Luna Gutierrez and Rafael Angel Lopez Ocon—and other noncitizens the Trump administration is now holding under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) in "disturbing" conditions at Guantánamo.
"Immigration detention outside the United States is straightforwardly illegal."
Rather than keeping these migrants in the United States "while making arrangements to effectuate their removal, the government has flown them hundreds of miles away to detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, for no legitimate purpose," the complaint states. "Plaintiffs are surrounded by military officials, deprived of in-person contact with legal counsel, and subject to punitive conditions of confinement, including in facilities previously used by the military to hold law-of-war detainees."
The plaintiffs, the filing says, "do not challenge the government's authority to detain them on U.S. soil or to directly remove them to their home country or to another statutorily authorized country. What they challenge is the government's unprecedented and unlawful decision to hold them in a detention facility at Guantánamo—which, under the INA, and for purposes of the application of that statute, is not the United States. Immigration detention outside the United States is straightforwardly illegal under the statute."
"Moreover," the document argues, "the government's use of Guantánamo for immigration detention is arbitrary and capricious, lacks any legitimate purpose, and imposes punitive detention conditions on immigration detainees in violation of their constitutional rights."
"Never before this administration has the federal government moved noncitizens apprehended and detained in the United States on civil immigration charges to Guantánamo, or to any other facility outside the United States, for the purpose of civil immigration detention. Nor is there any legitimate reason to do so," the document notes. "The government has ample detention capacity inside the United States, which is far less costly and poses none of the logistical hurdles attendant to detaining people at Guantánamo."
Specifically, according to the complaint, "since February 4, 2025, the government has held approximately 500 people in immigration detention at Guantánamo, at a reported cost of more than $40 million, or approximately $100,000 per day per detainee. In contrast, immigration detention at a U.S.-based detention facility costs, on average, $165 per day per detainee."
Previewing the Trump administration's likely arguments in court, the suit says that "in attempting to justify the transfers, the government has claimed that the individuals it is sending to Guantánamo are members of gangs and dangerous criminals—the 'worst of the worst.' That characterization has been proven wrong. Regardless, it is legally irrelevant."
The filing also stresses that "the government's real reason for holding immigration detainees at Guantánamo is to instill fear in the immigrant population. That is not conjecture; it is government policy."
The coalition is asking the court to rule that detaining these migrants at Guantánamo violates the INA, Administrative Procedure Act, and Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and to block the Trump administration from continuing to do so.
- 'We Have 30,000 Beds': Trump to Order Gitmo Prepared as Offshore Prison for Migrants ›
- 'Moral Crisis for This Nation': Trump Sued Over Access to Gitmo Prisoners Held 'Illegally' Offshore ›
- 'He's Building a Concentration Camp': Fears Grow as Images Emerge of Offshore Prison at Gitmo ›
- Trump Has Begun Deportation Flights to Feared 'American Gulag' at Gitmo ›
- Trump Plan for Migrant Prison Camp at Gitmo Should 'Horrify Us All' ›
- White House Denies Trump Prepping to Send Thousands More Migrants to Guantánamo | Common Dreams ›