The War Secretary Pete Hegseth said Cuba would be “inviting” a confrontation if it acquires weapons capable of threatening Guantánamo Bay or the U.S. homeland.
Hegseth issued a stark warning to Cuba on Wednesday during a visit to Guantánamo Bay, cautioning Havana against acquiring weapons capable of threatening the U.S. homeland or the American naval base on the island.
Speaking to American troops after joining them for morning physical training at the base, Hegseth emphasized the strategic importance of Guantánamo Bay and America&#8217;s long-standing presence there.
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According to a recent <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/05/17/us-military-drones-cuba">Axios report</a> citing U.S. officials, Cuba has acquired more than 300 military drones from Russia and Iran since 2023 and has discussed potential plans to use them against Guantánamo Bay or even targets in Florida, including Key West. U.S. officials told the outlet that Havana has continued seeking additional drones and military equipment from Russia, while intelligence intercepts reportedly suggest Cuban officials are also studying how Iran has resisted U.S. pressure.
“It would be unwise for the government of Cuba to try to procure or get access to the types of weapons that can reach this bay or the American homeland,” he said. “They would be inviting the kind of confrontation that they not only don’t want, but they could not stand.”
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://x.com/SecWar?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SECWAR</a> “Then you look at Cuba…
That government has decisions to make about what kind of reforms it wants to pursue—it’s not my job to make that decision for them.
It’s our job at the WAR DEPARTMENT to be prepared for whatever our Commander in Chief asks us to do on behalf of… <a href="https://t.co/sYZKYPGQZD">pic.twitter.com/sYZKYPGQZD</a>
— DOW Rapid Response (@DOWResponse) <a href="https://x.com/DOWResponse/status/2064763483208520176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 10, 2026</a></blockquote>
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The Cuban government has strongly <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgpyg9peq9o">denied</a> the allegations. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez accused the United States of constructing a “fraudulent case” to justify military action and insisted that Havana “neither threatens nor desires war.”
The visit comes amid escalating tensions between the Trump administration and Cuba. In recent months, President Donald Trump’s administration has intensified economic pressure on Havana through sanctions and an oil blockade while signaling a more aggressive posture toward the communist regime.
“We hope soon that we can be a friend to the leadership of Cuba,” Hegseth added. “For now, let’s see what happens, but the Department of War will give the Commander in Chief every single option he needs.”
Before participating in the workout, Hegseth delivered a similar message, saying, “What happens with the future of Cuba is in the hands of the President of the United States and the leadership of Cuba.”
“No matter what, the Department of War is going to be prepared and postured for any possible contingency,” he added.
Hegseth noted that he served at Guantánamo Bay roughly two decades ago as part of the detention mission following the September 11 terrorist attacks.
“This was then and is here today a very important and strategic piece of American terrain,” he said. “We’re here from the Department of War to get a chance to see it and make sure it’s as strong as it can possibly be.”
Hegseth also used the visit to highlight the administration’s broader security focus in the Western Hemisphere, including ongoing counternarcotics operations.
“I would not get into a drug boat in the Caribbean or the Eastern Pacific right now,” he told troops. “We are hunting you like we hunted Al Qaeda and ISIS.”
He added that “we are defending the homeland and we are taking back our hemisphere.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
.<a href="https://x.com/SecWar?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SECWAR</a> “WE ARE DEFENDING THE HOMELAND AND WE ARE TAKING BACK OUR HEMISPHERE…
This president came in and said NOT ONLY is the Monroe Doctrine alive—not only does the Roosevelt Corollary live—BUT NOW WE HAVE THE DONROE DOCTRINE.” <a href="https://t.co/LPpBuAFQ0A">pic.twitter.com/LPpBuAFQ0A</a>
— DOW Rapid Response (@DOWResponse) <a href="https://x.com/DOWResponse/status/2064755993657901405?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 10, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Guantánamo Bay, located on Cuba’s southeastern coast roughly 430 miles from Miami, has housed a U.S. naval base for more than a century and became globally known for the detention facility established after the September 11 attacks.
The administration&#8217;s increased focus was highlighted last month by Secretary of State Marco Rubio who delivered a direct message to the Cuban people, accusing the communist government of enriching itself while citizens face food shortages, fuel shortages, blackouts, and political repression.
“The real reason you don’t have electricity, fuel, or food is because those who control your country have plundered billions of dollars, but nothing has been used to help the people,” Rubio said.
Rubio said the Trump administration is prepared to provide $100 million in food and medicine to the Cuban people through religious and charitable organizations rather than the Cuban government. He also argued that Cuba&#8217;s leadership remains the primary obstacle to improved relations with the United States.
“In the U.S., we are ready to open a new chapter in the relationship between our people and our countries,” Rubio said. “Currently, the only thing standing in the way of a better future are those who control your country.”
The administration&#8217;s focus on Cuba has also included a series of high-level engagements by senior U.S. officials. In recent months, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Gen. Francis Donovan, commander of U.S. Southern Command, have both traveled to the island. 
Hegseth departed Guantánamo Bay later Wednesday and traveled to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, where he met with U.S. Central Command Commander Adm. Brad Cooper.

DOW Secretary Hegseth Addresses Graduates At West Point Commencement

Hegseth Delivers Stark Ultimatum To Havana After Reports Of Cuban Drone Buildup

Hegseth Delivers Warning To Havana Amid Reports Of Cuban Drone Buildup

Cuba

Guantanamo Bay

Pete Hegseth

The White House roundly rejected a Wednesday morning report from The Washington Post claiming that President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration was planning to send a number of illegal aliens to the infamous prison at Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt referred to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/06/10/trump-guantanamo-deportations/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> — which cited unnamed &#8220;U.S. officials familiar with the matter&#8221; — as &#8220;Fake News,&#8221; and declared that it was &#8220;not happening.&#8221;
&#8220;This story is Fake News. Not happening,&#8221; she said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
This story is Fake News. Not happening. <a href="https://t.co/cxzPLkql0S">https://t.co/cxzPLkql0S</a>
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) <a href="https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/1932759627571060790?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
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According to The Washington Post&#8217;s report, the White House is &#8220;preparing to send thousands of foreigners to the infamous detention facility, including people from Britain, France and Italy, with no intent to notify their home governments.&#8221;
Citing anonymous officials — and claiming those officials provided the outlet with documents — the report said that those who could potentially be sent to Guantanamo Bay included a number from Haiti but also included &#8220;hundreds from friendly European nations, including Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Poland, Turkey and Ukraine.&#8221;
The Post claimed that the officials had insisted on remaining anonymous &#8220;because the matter is considered highly sensitive.&#8221;
Some of the alleged plans outlined by The Post included preparations for medical screenings for up to 9,000 people – and the piece was careful to hedge by noting that the plans were &#8220;subject to change.&#8221; The Post attributed the push to move illegals to Guantanamo Bay to &#8220;immigration hard-liners&#8221; within the Trump administration who were pressuring Trump to ramp up deportations.
Leavitt was not the only one to call out The Post&#8217;s assertions. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell added, &#8220;This is [100%] Fake News.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
This is 💯 Fake News. <a href="https://t.co/3sRNfCH0GD">https://t.co/3sRNfCH0GD</a>
— Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellUSA) <a href="https://twitter.com/SeanParnellUSA/status/1932760299888578853?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
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But others, like Marc Thiessen, who served as a speechwriter for President George W. Bush, noted that the practice was not exactly unprecedented. &#8220;The Clinton administration housed migrants at Gitmo long before the war on terror,&#8221; he said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The Clinton administration housed migrants at Gitmo long before the war on terror. <a href="https://t.co/UpNfTK49BJ">https://t.co/UpNfTK49BJ</a>
— Marc Thiessen 🇺🇸❤️🇺🇦🇹🇼🇮🇱 (@marcthiessen) <a href="https://twitter.com/marcthiessen/status/1932565230330261888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
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US-NEWS-MIGRANTS-GUANTANAMO-BAY-MI

White House Says It’s Not Sending Illegals To Guantanamo: ‘100% Fake News’

Donald Trump

Fake News

Illegal Immigration

Karoline Leavitt

Media

Politics

White House

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced on Monday evening that he is taking his first trip to Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NSGB), Cuba.
The trip on Tuesday, which will be his first time visiting the base since being confirmed by the Senate in January, will include briefings on all mission operations at the base.
Among the operations that will be discussed are the Migrant Operations Center and the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility, Hegseth&#8217;s office said in a statement.
&#8220;Naval Station Guantanamo Bay serves as a forward operating base vital for regional stability and maritime security,&#8221; the statement said. &#8220;It also facilitates temporary detention of illegal aliens who are pending return to their country of origin or other appropriate destination.&#8221;
Hegseth will also &#8220;meet with U.S. service members at the base and aboard the USS Thomas Hudner to thank them for their service and learn firsthand about their experiences at Guantanamo Bay,&#8221; the statement added.
Hegseth&#8217;s visit to the island comes as the Trump administration has halted operations to put illegal aliens in tent structures at the base due to concerns over the detention facilities not meeting certain standards.
&#8220;The emerging facilities don’t meet detention standards because they lack air conditioning or electricity,&#8221; CNN reported.
Illegal aliens are still being sent to the island, but are housed at the Migrant Operations Center.
The tent structures were intended to significantly expand the base&#8217;s capacity for holding illegal aliens to more than 30,000.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Gitmo tomorrow. <a href="https://t.co/mOTGb7QYnh">pic.twitter.com/mOTGb7QYnh</a>
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeteHegseth/status/1894198928528023738?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 25, 2025</a></blockquote>

Pete Hegseth – Khalid bin Salman meeting in Washington DC

Hegseth Taking First Trip To Guantanamo Bay

Trump Administration

World

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said during an interview over the weekend that the Trump administration is focused on initially sending the most dangerous illegal aliens in the U.S. to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba until they can be deported to their countries of origin.
Noem made the remarks during a Sunday interview on CNN&#8217;s &#8220;State of the Union&#8221; following a trip she made to Guantanamo Bay.
She said that she saw illegal aliens — being offloaded from planes at the facility — who had been convicted of murder, rape, child sex crimes, and drug trafficking.
&#8220;They will be there until we work with arrangements to take them back to their countries, where they belong, and have consequences dealt with them there,&#8221; she said. &#8220;So they will be treated much like many other individuals in this country that are those dangerous criminals that don&#8217;t belong here.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
DHS <a href="https://twitter.com/Sec_Noem?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Sec_Noem</a> on how long migrants could be detained at Guantanamo: “They&#8217;ll be there until we work with arrangements to take them back to their countries where they belong.” <a href="https://t.co/I3Ayr7kNqA">pic.twitter.com/I3Ayr7kNqA</a>
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) <a href="https://twitter.com/CNNSOTU/status/1888599570545779156?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
Noem said that those who were being detained had due process and access to legal counsel.
She added that the U.S. was surging resources to the base so that it can be used to hold up to 30,000 illegal aliens.
&#8220;If you&#8217;re in this country illegally, you should go home,&#8221; Noem said. &#8220;You should go back to your home country. Don&#8217;t wait until we have the opportunity to sweep you up because you have overstayed your orders, you have final removal orders, or you have been committing crimes in our communities.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/DanaBashCNN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DanaBashCNN</a>: “Could [migrants charged with nonviolent crimes] end up at Guantanamo?”<a href="https://twitter.com/Sec_Noem?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Sec_Noem</a>: “You know, I don&#8217;t know what the president will decide as far as utilizing it. We want to have the capacity.” <a href="https://t.co/ZQEpTZqGPk">pic.twitter.com/ZQEpTZqGPk</a>
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) <a href="https://twitter.com/CNNSOTU/status/1888599938482762086?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2025</a></blockquote>

Senate Confirmation Hearing Considers Kristi Noem For DHS Secretary

Kristi Noem: U.S. Sending Murderers, Rapists, Traffickers, Pedophiles To Guantanamo Bay

illegal immigrants

Kristi Noem

On Monday, while touring the Southern Border, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth spoke about the potential of the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba (GTMO) housing violent illegal immigrants: “It’s the perfect place to provide for migrants who are traveling out of our country … but also hardened criminals.”
U.S. Marines were flown in to erect temporary tent facilities while discussions are currently ongoing with U.S. contractors to convert the base to be able to process and detain up to 30,000 illegals. Then, on Tuesday, the Trump administration deported the first batch of illegal immigrants from America to Guantanamo Bay.
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The first flight of high-threat criminal illegals aliens has arrived at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. These criminals trampled over our previously wide open border to bring violence and mayhem to our communities. President Trump has taken swift action to expel them… <a href="https://t.co/Kml8WX3kIK">pic.twitter.com/Kml8WX3kIK</a>
&mdash; Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (@SecDef) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecDef/status/1887470604690882681?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;
This action is but the latest use of the controversial Caribbean military installation. Modern Americans know it as the austere home for middle eastern terrorists post September 11, 2001, but its history dates back to the turn of the previous century.
In 1898, in support of the island’s drive for independence, the U.S. invaded Cuba during our war with Spain. In 1901, the victorious Americans nominally recognized Cuban independence, although the U.S. still had a say in internal Cuban affairs; this agreement was formalized in the 1903 Treaty of Cuban-American Relations and then again in 1934. In return for our assistance and recognition, the U.S. extracted a permanent lease for Guantanamo Bay, and the naval base was subsequently constructed.
Guantanamo encompasses some 45 square miles of land and water, and is manned by 8,500 sailors and Marines. The bay is strategically located on Cuba’s southeastern coast. With a substantial harbor as well as two airfields, it offers our military an excellent staging area from which to patrol Caribbean waters as well as closely monitor activities in South America. GTMO also serves as an ideal winter training ground for the Atlantic Fleet. It is, in fact, the oldest overseas permanent U.S. military base.
When the communists under Fidel Castro came into power in 1959, Havana declared the base illegal and demanded that it be closed, the land returned to Cuba, and U.S. forces leave the island. These calls continue to be ignored to this day.
<div id="attachment_872737" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-872737" class="size-large wp-image-872737" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2162696407-864x576.jpg" alt="GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA - JUNE 25: (EDITORS NOTE: Image has been reviewed by the U.S. Military prior to transmission.) The welcome sign at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay on June 25, 2023 at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. At the prison within Naval Station Guantanamo Bay where media members are no longer allowed, 30 men still remain imprisoned while five separate war crime prosecutions involving some of the detainees proceed within Guantanamo's war court none have yet reached a trial date. (Photo by Elise Swain/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2162696407-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2162696407-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2162696407-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2162696407.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Elise Swain/Getty Images</div>
GTMO took on special significance after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. U.S. operations against Islamic extremist fighters in Afghanistan and elsewhere yielded prisoners and intelligence assets who needed a place to be imprisoned and interrogated. As the Bush administration declared that GTMO as a military base on foreign soil was outside the realm of usual jurisprudence, and that those captured on the battlefield were enemy combatants for whom Constitutional protections are inapplicable, GTMO was used as a de facto POW camp. The first detainees arrived in January 2002.
At first, the Bush administration kept the detentions a secret. Eventually, however, a FOIA request filed by the Associated Press compelled the Department of Defense to admit that it was holding, at its height, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/guantanamo-bay-detainees.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">780 prisoners</a> on the base. Among them were the most fanatical and dangerous individuals scooped up in the so-called “War On Terror” including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, widely regarded as the chief architect of the 9/11 attacks. As of January 2025, 15 prisoners remain in custody.
Given the nebulous nature of what rights prisoners at Guantanamo Bay do and do not have, the facility remains the subject of controversy. Civil libertarians declare the facility a violation of human rights, in which “enhanced interrogation” (some call “torture”) is carried out to extract intelligence. Defenders of the base and its methods offer that, as those in custody were picked up on the battlefield, yet are part of no nation or national armed force, they are nothing more than terrorists for whom Geneva Convention protocols do not apply.
But in the landmark case Boumediene v. Bush, in 2008 the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, declared that detainees did have the right to habeas corpus and other due process claims, underscoring tension between the government and civil libertarians. In writing for the majority, Justice Kennedy <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/13/washington/12cnd-gitmo.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>: “To hold that the political branches may switch the Constitution on or off at will would lead to a regime in which they, not this Court, say &#8216;what the law is&#8217;.” 
In that vein, Democrat Presidents Obama and Biden have over the years vowed to close the detention facilities as they considered them violations of international law and civil liberties. Indeed, Obama went so far as to call it a “sad chapter in American history” during the 2008 Presidential campaign. And yet, tellingly, once in office, he allowed the prison to continue albeit with occasional temporary restrictions for review purposes. One gets the feeling that, once he was actually in the Oval Office and the books were opened to him, Obama may have had his own cathartic Richard Pryor moment, wherein the comedian famously <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txp8B4ek_kk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">observed</a> how his naiveté was shattered when filming a movie set in an actual state penitentiary. “I talked to the brothers. I talked to ‘em, and thank God we got penitentiaries!”
No matter where on the spectrum one rests regarding GTMO’s necessity versus civil liberties, at the moment Guantanamo remains the only answer to what to do with the especially bad hombres once they are caught in our nets — be they in the Hindu Kush or the streets of El Paso. Like Mr. Pryor, whose eyes were opened when he saw the true nature of the men he once considered victims of an oppressive state, one must think that, its darker corners aside, Guantanamo is a necessary conditional solution when fighting evil incarnate. And it must also be considered for its deterrence aspect. One must now imagine any gangbanger wishing to cross illegally into the U.S. now, with the new sheriff in town, may cast his teardrop-tatted eyes towards GTMO and ask if that is really where he wishes to spend the rest of his days.
As with much of the whirlwind first few weeks of the Trump Presidency, there is a method to the madness. Eventually, 30,000 undesirables with no business moving within our borders will be off our streets and tossed into a prison that has seen some of the worst enemies of not just the U.S. Government but the American people pass through its barbed-wire gates.
A powerful message will be sent to those who seek to violate our national sovereignty that a prison cell in one of America’s most notorious prisons awaits should they test the resolve of this new President and those like SecDef Hegseth and others whom he has hand-picked to run this nation with him.
* * *
Brad Schaeffer is a commodities fund manager, author, and columnist whose articles have appeared on the pages of The Daily Wire, The Wall Street Journal, NY Post, NY Daily News, National Review, The Hill, The Federalist, Zerohedge, and other outlets. He is the author of three <a href="https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B07MQJBJSD?ccs_id=55112527-86f6-4c89-b82e-a96d6869abed" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B07MQJBJSD?ccs_id%3D55112527-86f6-4c89-b82e-a96d6869abed&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1736518135479000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3K_WhJtiUZw7LF1PwSIHtH">books</a>. Follow him on <a href="https://bradschaeffer.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://bradschaeffer.substack.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1736518135479000&amp;usg=AOvVaw02hy-lB4UuAlHo7FfD_FIQ">Substack</a> and <a href="https://x.com/bschaeffer123" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://x.com/bschaeffer123&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1736518135479000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0P6pRoAqcBhUQ1W0qwN5rH">X/Twitter</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

250130-D-PM193-1594_(54295724002) copy

Why Guantanamo Bay Is ‘The Perfect Place’ For Violent Illegals

Why Guantanamo Bay Is 'The Perfect Place' For Violent Illegals

9/11

Deportations

President Trump

Radical Islamic Terror

U.S. Navy

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth released footage early Thursday morning showing the first flight of “high threat” criminal illegal immigrants being dropped off at <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/guantanamo-bay" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Guantanamo Bay</a> for detention.
Hegseth posted a video on X showing U.S. military and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel escorting illegal immigrants off a plane and into vans for transportation to the detention camp. The Trump administration announced last week that the U.S. would send illegal immigrants who committed violent crimes to the military prison. The Department of Defense said the plane arrived sometime Wednesday, while other media outlets reported that the flight landed on Tuesday.
“The first flight of high-threat criminal illegals aliens has arrived at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,” Hegseth wrote. “These criminals trampled over our previously wide open border to bring violence and mayhem to our communities. President Trump has taken swift action to expel them immediately from our county, and our nation’s finest are helping lead the way in this critical mission.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
The first flight of high-threat criminal illegals aliens has arrived at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. These criminals trampled over our previously wide open border to bring violence and mayhem to our communities. President Trump has taken swift action to expel them… <a href="https://t.co/Kml8WX3kIK">pic.twitter.com/Kml8WX3kIK</a>
— Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (@SecDef) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecDef/status/1887470604690882681?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The Department of Homeland Security <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/4055497/first-flight-of-illegal-aliens-arrives-at-guantanamo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that each of the ten illegal immigrants transported were members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which the White House designated as a foreign terrorist organization last month. The gang has a reported presence in at least 16 states. 
The Defense Department said that the gang members were not being held alongside Islamic terrorist detainees but in empty detention facilities. 
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp, also known as GITMO, is a U.S. military prison within a U.S. Naval base off the coast of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It was established after the 2001 terrorist attacks to hold terrorism suspects and &#8220;illegal enemy combatants.&#8221;
Previously, Hegseth <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/4055497/first-flight-of-illegal-aliens-arrives-at-guantanamo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that Guantanamo may be used to hold illegals while they work out an agreement to send them back to their home countries. 
&#8220;It&#8217;s folks who may be in transit to their home country or a safe, third harbor country, and it&#8217;s taking a little time to move with that processing and with the paperwork,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Better they be held at a safe location like Guantanamo Bay.&#8221; 
The flight comes after President Donald Trump issued a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/expanding-migrant-operations-center-at-naval-station-guantanamo-bay-to-full-capacity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">memorandum</a> on January 29 directing Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to take action to send “high-priority criminal aliens” to Guantanamo. 
“Some of them are so bad we don’t even trust the countries to hold them,” Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/president-trump-to-use-guantanamo-bay-for-illegal-alien-detention" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> before signing the executive memo. “We don’t want them coming back so we’re going to send them out to Guantanamo. This is going to double our capacity immediately.”
While the base is currently equipped to hold 120 illegal immigrants, the Trump administration says it will expand capacity to be able to hold 30,000. Up to 500 Marines are also expected to be stationed at the base to help with operations and security.

Screen Shot 2025-02-06 at 7.18.28 AM

WATCH: U.S. Military Drops Off First Flight Of ‘High Priority’ Illegal Immigrants At GITMO

Department of Defense

Department of Homeland Security

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

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Tren De Aragua

The United States began flying illegal aliens to the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/guantanamo-bay" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Guantanamo Bay</a> facility in Cuba today as the Trump administration continues its work to prepare the naval base to serve as a detention center for tens of thousands of migrants.
The <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-immigration-policy-guatanamo-bay-migrant-flights-9fec8df3">first flight</a>, scheduled to leave today from Fort Bliss in Texas, has roughly a dozen illegal aliens on board. While the base is currently equipped to hold 120 illegal aliens, the Trump administration says it will expand the base to be able to hold 30,000 aliens.
The flight comes less than a week after President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/president-trump-to-use-guantanamo-bay-for-illegal-alien-detention">announced</a> that Guantanamo Bay, which has historically been used to detain terror suspects, will be used “to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people.”
&#8220;Guantanamo Bay will hold the worst of the worst. That starts today,&#8221; Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote in a post on X alongside pictures of the illegal aliens.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
President <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realdonaldtrump</a> has been very clear: Guantanamo Bay will hold the worst of the worst. That starts today. <a href="https://t.co/Iqxt5rCfWa">pic.twitter.com/Iqxt5rCfWa</a>
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) <a href="https://twitter.com/Sec_Noem/status/1886875324928938185?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 4, 2025</a></blockquote>
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also confirmed that the administration was at work transporting illegal aliens to the naval base. “The first flights from the United States to Guantanamo Bay with illegal migrants are under way,” Leavitt said in a recent appearance on Fox Business. “He’s not messing around,” she said of President Trump’s recent actions cracking down on illegal immigration.
About 200 United States Marines have <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-immigration-policy-guatanamo-bay-migrant-flights-9fec8df3">reportedly</a> been sent to Guantanamo Bay, with as many as 500 in total expected to arrive at the military base in the next few days. The Marines will build new infrastructure to expand the base’s detention capacity, including through the construction of tents. Trump noted the significance of the step last week, explaining that the move “is going to double our capacity immediately.”
“Some of them are so bad we don’t even trust the countries to hold them,” Trump said of criminal illegal aliens, adding that “we don’t want them coming back so we’re going to send them out to Guantanamo.”
The president’s executive order authorizing the creation of new detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay specifies that the base will be used to hold “high-priority criminal aliens unlawfully present in the United States.”

C-17

United States Begins Flying Illegal Aliens To Guantanamo Bay

Immigration

Homeland Security Secretary <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/kristi-noem" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kristi Noem</a> said over the weekend that illegal aliens sent to Guantanamo Bay will have the same rights as they would inside the U.S. and that the plan is not to detain them indefinitely.
Noem made the remarks during a Sunday interview on NBC News&#8217; &#8220;Meet The Press&#8221; with Kristen Welker when asked about the plan that President Donald Trump introduced last week.
&#8220;Due process will be followed and having facilities at Guantanamo Bay will be an asset to us in the fact that we&#8217;ll have the capacity to continue to do there what we&#8217;ve always done,&#8221; Noem said. &#8220;We&#8217;ve always had a presence of illegal immigrants there that have been detained. We&#8217;re just building out some capacity. So we appreciate the partnership of the DoD in getting that up to the level that it needs to get to in order to facilitate this repatriation of people back to their countries.&#8221;
&#8220;So remember that Guantanamo Bay clearly, by this president, has said that it will hold the worst of the worst, that we are going after those bad actors,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;This last week, I was in New York City. We were going after people that had warrants out for their arrest on murders and rapes, assaults, gun purchases, drug trafficking. In fact, we had a member of TDA that was one of the ringleaders that we picked up that week, had been trying to buy grenades. These are the types of individuals that we are targeting, we&#8217;re removing from communities, and that could end up having a stay at Guantanamo Bay before they are returned home to their countries to deal with.&#8221;
When asked if illegal aliens could be held indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay, Noem responded: &#8220;That is not the plan.&#8221;
&#8220;The plan is to have a process that we follow that&#8217;s laid out in law and make sure that we&#8217;re dealing with these individuals appropriately according to what the state and the national law directs,&#8221; she said. &#8220;So we will work with Congress to make sure that we&#8217;re addressing our legal immigration laws and using Guantanamo Bay appropriately. But it is an asset that we have that we fully intend to utilize.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/Sec_Noem?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Sec_Noem</a>: Guantanamo Bay will be an asset to us for in detaining the worst of the worst illegal aliens as we facilitate their repatriation BACK to their own countries. <a href="https://t.co/Qdc5AZyuuD">pic.twitter.com/Qdc5AZyuuD</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1886059585376604578?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 2, 2025</a></blockquote>

House Natural Resources Committee

Secretary Noem Weighs In On Plan To Send Illegal Aliens To Guantanamo Bay

U.S.

Defense Secretary <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/pete-hegseth" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pete Hegseth</a> said during an interview this week that the U.S. military can increase its capacity to hold illegal aliens at Guantanamo Bay well beyond the 30,000 beds they currently have ready for the job.
Hegseth made the remarks during a Fox News interview after Trump announced on Wednesday afternoon that the U.S. would be sending up to 30,000 illegal aliens to the base on Cuba.
&#8220;We absolutely can and can increase it rapidly,&#8221; Hegseth said. &#8220;I served there, I know the places where this would happen. Guantanamo has long been a place for migrants. In fact, in the 90s, tens of thousands of Haitian and Cuban migrants staged their as part of a crisis.&#8221;
&#8220;We have an even bigger crisis on our hands right now,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;It was mentioned, 7,500 violent illegals have been captured by ICE in the last nine days. God bless them, where you move them? I tell you what, know one is going to be waiting on the Defense Department.&#8221;
He said that the U.S. military would continue to &#8220;lean forward and make sure we stay on the border to protect it and that we have great tales which are known as military aircraft to help mass deportations to Guantanamo Bay.&#8221;
&#8220;We don&#8217;t want illegal criminals in the United States, not a minute longer than they have to be,&#8221; he added. &#8220;Move them off to Guantanamo Bay where they can be safely maintained until they are deported to their final location, their country of origin where they are headed. So we feel great about this plan, we know we can execute it. And the Defense Department is prepared to do everything we can. We applaud DHS and ICE what they&#8217;ve done, and we&#8217;re going to protect the American people.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Newly minted Defense Secretary, <a href="https://twitter.com/PeteHegseth?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PeteHegseth</a>, joins Primetime. <a href="https://t.co/UEBzYOWeUN">pic.twitter.com/UEBzYOWeUN</a>
— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) <a href="https://twitter.com/JesseBWatters/status/1884783642544644446?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2025</a></blockquote>

Guantanamo Bay Facility Continues To Serve As Detention Center For War Detainees

Defense Secretary Hegseth: U.S. Can Send Well Over 30,000 Illegal Aliens To Guantanamo Bay

President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a> is set to sign an executive order directing the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security to prepare the Guantanamo Bay detention camp to hold as many as 30,000 criminal illegal aliens.
Trump announced his impending executive order at a signing event for the Laken Riley Act, an immigration security bill named after a 22 year-old victim of an illegal alien murderer. The Guantanamo Bay detention facility, located in Cuba, has historically been used to detain terror suspects. Shortly after taking office, Trump signed an executive order designating cartels as Foreign Terror Organizations.
“Today, I’m also signing an Executive Order to instruct the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to begin preparing the 30,000 person migrant facility at Guantanamo Bay … to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people.”
“Some of them are so bad we don’t even trust the countries to hold them,” he said of criminal illegal aliens. “We don’t want them coming back so we’re going to send them out to Guantanamo. This is going to double our capacity immediately.”
“I hereby direct the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security to take all appropriate actions to expand the Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to full capacity to provide additional detention space for high-priority criminal aliens unlawfully present in the United States, and to address attendant immigration enforcement needs identified by the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security,” Trump’s executive order reads. 
It goes on to add that the memo “is issued in order to halt the border invasion, dismantle criminal cartels, and restore national sovereignty.”
Trump’s comments came at an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmxgNgNrhf4">event</a> at which the President signed the Laken Riley Act, an immigration bill named after the 22 year-old Georgia nursing student who was brutally murdered by an illegal alien from Venezuela last year while she was out for a morning jog.
The legislation will require the detention of illegal aliens charged with theft or violent crimes. The bill received bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress. “She’s going to save a lot of lives, she’s going to be responsible for saving a lot of lives,” Trump said to the parents of Riley at the event. He also accused the previous administration of opening America’s borders and allowing “world’s most dangerous criminals straight into” American communities.
Under the Trump administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has set out to capture and repatriate illegal aliens, with a special focus on illegal aliens convicted of other crimes in addition to illegally crossing the border into the United States.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
From drug traffickers in Baltimore to cartel members in Houston, ICE is deporting criminals illegal aliens across the country.<a href="https://twitter.com/MaryMargOlohan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MaryMargOlohan</a> and I reported for <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDailyWire</a> on some of the worst offenders captured this Sunday. 🧵 <a href="https://t.co/jDlZOJmx3C">pic.twitter.com/jDlZOJmx3C</a>
— Spencer Lindquist 🇺🇸 (@SpencerLndqst) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpencerLndqst/status/1884629928341119380?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 29, 2025</a></blockquote>
ICE caught several criminal illegal aliens just this Sunday, The Daily Wire reported. Federal immigration enforcement agents caught a member of the MS-13 cartel, the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, a man in possession of child pornography, a drug and weapons trafficker, and multiple violent criminals across the country on Sunday.
UPDATE: This article has been updated to provide text of the executive order after it was signed.

Trump

President Trump To Use Guantanamo Bay For Illegal Alien Detention

Border

Border Patrol

On Wednesday, GOP Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and Jerry Moran (R-KS) reintroduced the Justice for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/9-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">9/11</a> Act, originally introduced by Cotton and McConnell last August, to cancel any plea deals made between the Biden administration and the Guantanamo Bay inmates who planned the 9/11/2001 attacks. Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) is introducing companion legislation in the House.
Three detainees at Guantanamo Bay, including alleged 9/11 architect Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, had filed plea deals. Last week, a military appeals court ruled that the Pentagon could not reverse the deals reached by military prosecutors and defense attorneys.
The Act <a href="https://www.cotton.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/11_plea_deal_bill_reintro.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">states</a>:
<blockquote>
Notwithstanding the provisions of section 949h of title 10, United States Code, any plea agreement entered into by Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash, or Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi for actions involving the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, and its related judgment, shall not preclude the trial of such individual under chapter 47A of such title or any other provision of law for that terrorist attack. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in any trial of Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash, or Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi under chapter 47A of title 10, United States Code, or any other provision of law for the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, a sentence of death shall be available. 
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in the case of any sentence imposed on Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash, or Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi, such individual shall be held at United States Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in solitary confinement; provided no contact with foreign nationals; and provided no psychological treatment except that specifically authorized by medical authorities at United States Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay; and shall not be transferred to the continental United States or any other country. 
</blockquote>
“Giving a plea deal to the terrorist masterminds behind 9/11 is disgraceful and an insult to the victims of the attacks, as well at those who served to avenge them,” Cotton <a href="https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-mcconnell-lawler-reintroduce-bill-to-stop-joe-biden-from-releasing-9/11-terrorists" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stated</a>. “These monsters should have faced justice decades ago; instead, Joe Biden has set the stage to let them go free. My bill will stop this travesty and prevent the Biden administration from replenishing the ranks of our terrorist enemies any further on his way out the door.”
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“In the wake of terrorist savagery, our obligation is to deliver justice,” McConnell echoed. “However long it takes, those responsible for September 11 deserve nothing more, and the families of their victims deserve nothing less.”
“The court’s decision to uphold the plea deal for three 9/11 conspirators is alarming,” Moran added. “In addition to the plea deal, the Biden administration continues to use its final days in power to release some of the world&#8217;s most violent terrorists from Guantanamo Bay. These men should face trial for their crimes, and Congress must act quickly to pass this important legislation.”
“September 11th is a date that will forever be seared in our national memory, especially for New Yorkers,” Lawler stated. “For the Biden-Harris Administration to have offered a plea deal without the death penalty to the very people who planned the attacks that took the lives of almost 3,000 is a betrayal of our cops, firefighters, and 9/11 victims and their families. The Justice for 9/11 Act will nullify this horrendous plea deal and prevent any future ones from being offered to those who perpetrated this heinous attack.”
“A hearing is scheduled for later this week at Guantanomo Bay, where Mohammad and two other defendants could plead guilty in separate hearings, with the death penalty removed as a possible punishment,” Fox News <a href="//FE2DFBB2-BFEC-43AE-BAEC-9AFFDA6DD542/v" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a>, adding, “The administration announced on Monday 11 Yemeni detainees, including two alleged bodyguards for Usama bin Laden, would be resettled in Oman, after being held for two decades without charges.”

US-ATTACKS-WORLD TRADE-SMOKE

Cotton, McConnell Push Act To Bar Biden From Giving Convicted 9/11 Terrorists Plea Deals

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Joe Biden

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The Pentagon and FBI have <a href="https://isp.netscape.com/politics/story/0001/20230816/76fab68b1faa1a7e1634b10951258710" target="_blank" rel="noopener">alerted</a> several of the grieving families who lost relatives in the deadly 9/11 attack in which nearly 3,000 Americans were murdered that the suspected architect of the attacks and his fellow defendants may have their death sentences overturned through plea deals.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed — who suggested the 9/11 attacks to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and then planned the attacks — and four other terrorists have been incarcerated at the Guantanamo Bay detention center for years, while repeated delays and legal disputes have postponed the death penalty being applied. No trial date has been set.
“The Office of the Chief Prosecutor has been negotiating and is considering entering into pre-trial agreements,” the August 1 letter sent to the families stated. It stated that although no plea deal has “been finalized, and may never be finalized, it is possible that a PTA in this case would remove the possibility of the death penalty.&#8221;
The families were given until Monday, August 21, to respond to the FBI&#8217;s victim services division with any comments or questions about the matter.
Some relatives of the nearly 3,000 people killed outright in the terror attacks expressed outrage over the prospect of ending the case short of a verdict. The military prosecutors pledged to take their views into consideration and present them to the military authorities who would make the final decision on accepting any plea agreement.
Jim Riches, a retired deputy fire chief whose son Jimmy was a firefighter who died as a result of the 9/11 attacks, emitted a bitter laugh when he received the letter. “How can you have any faith in it?” he said, adding, “Those guys are still alive. Our children are dead.”
Former President George W. Bush established the prison and court system at Guantanamo Bay in 2002 following the 9/11/2001 attacks. Former President Barack Obama promised to close the center; during his administration, the number of prisoners was reduced from roughly 250 to 41. Republicans in Congress blocked Obama’s move to close the detention center.
In early 2021, President Biden declared he would close the facility.
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In the 9/11 attacks, 2,606 people were reported murdered in the World Trade Center and on the ground. At least 125 people working at the Pentagon were killed; 265 people were killed aboard the four planes used in the attacks, including eight children.
Medical authorities <a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/1-140-wtc-9-11-responders-cancer-article-1.1449499" target="_blank" rel="noopener">concluded</a> by August 2013, that 1,140 people who worked, lived, or studied in Lower Manhattan had been diagnosed with cancer as a result of &#8220;exposure to toxins at Ground Zero” and the number would grow.

September 11

Pentagon, FBI Alert Grieving 9/11 Families: Architect Of Attack, 4 Others May Have Death Penalties Overturned

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

Pentagon

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