Rep. Sara Jacobs Visits Guantanamo Bay Immigrant Detention Center; Slams Theatrics and Exorbitant Cost
Rep. Sara Jacobs (CA-51) joined a bipartisan delegation of House Armed Services Committee members on an oversight visit today of the immigrant detention center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Following her return, she released the following statement:
“Today, I visited the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay as part of a bipartisan delegation to conduct oversight of President Trump’s plan to house immigrants there en route to deportation. Already, the project has cost $16 million – but only has capacity to hold 225 immigrants – and dozens of tents costing millions of dollars aren’t being used because they don’t meet DHS’ standards. Thousands of military personnel are guarding a current immigrant population of 41, with only a little over half being categorized as a high threat.
“And because of President Trump and Secretary Hegseth’s hastily thrown together idea and lack of the requisite planning, immigrants have been inadvertently subject to inhumane treatment. For example, the facility was initially run like a military prison, with some immigrants being held in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day, despite that being against DHS protocol. While conditions have improved, and these immigrants now have access to four hours of communal time, more must be done to respect the immigrants’ rights and to delineate the division of labor between DOD and DHS personnel.
“It’s clear to me there is no operational reason for using Guantanamo Bay for this purpose, but rather, it was done because President Trump liked the optics and its history as a site of horrific human rights abuses. This is immoral theater on the taxpayers’ dime.”
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