• The first U.S. military flight carrying migrants to Guantanamo Bay is set to depart on Tuesday.
• Migration process at the naval base may expand to house over 30,000 individuals, according to plans from the Trump administration.
• Significant legal questions remain regarding the treatment and rights of detainees at the facility.
• The military flights are part of a broader immigration strategy involving the use of military assets to manage migration.

In a historic move, the US military is scheduled to fly detained migrants to Guantanamo Bay for the first time, with the flight expected to depart on Tuesday. This initiative, as outlined by CNN, has been prompted by a memorandum from President Donald Trump directing the military and the Department of Homeland Security to prepare the naval base in Cuba to accommodate tens of thousands of migrants.

The Pentagon aims to utilize Guantanamo Bay's migrant detention facility, which has historically processed migrants intercepted at sea, to house more than 30,000 individuals. A military official indicated that the flight would be transporting around a dozen migrants initially, as part of a broader strategy that may include deporting more than 5,000 migrants currently held in El Paso, Texas, and San Diego, California USA Today.

However, the legality and ethics surrounding this transfer remain contentious. Legal experts have raised concerns over the application of immigration law in this context, questioning how long individuals can be held at Guantanamo and what legal rights they may retain upon their relocation Reuters. Former Homeland Security officials have pointed out that transitioning migrants from the U.S. border to a military facility overseas may undermine established U.S. immigration protections.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has framed this initiative as a dual-purpose facility serving both migrants and "hardened criminals," reflecting an increasingly militarized approach to immigration. Although the Secretary has asserted that migrants won't be incarcerated indefinitely, the lack of clarity around the duration of detention poses a significant challenge to adherence to U.S. laws CNN.

There remains considerable uncertainty regarding the conditions within the detention facility. Critics of the plan cite past criticisms of Guantanamo's conditions as being inhumane and degrading, highlighting a potential conflict with international human rights standards, a point echoed by concerns raised by UN experts about U.S. practices in the facility