The Trump administration completed its first migrant flights from the U.S. to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
The Department of Homeland Security said the individuals transported there are members of the Tren de Aragua gang and were living in the U.S. illegally.
The migrant flights took place about a week after President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security to expand the Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to full capacity.
Trump said the facility would be used to house up to 30,000 of the "worst criminal" migrants. It's being run by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
While some have criticized the move, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said migrants held at the detention center would still have the same rights and access to attorneys as they would in the U.S.
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"Due process will be followed," Noem said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "And having facilities at Guantánamo Bay will be an asset to us and the fact that we'll have the capacity to continue to do there what we've always done. We've always had a presence of illegal immigrants there that have been detained, we're just building out some capacities."
The U.S. government has historically used Guantánamo Bay to house migrants. However, most of them were trying to reach the U.S. by boat.
Guantánamo Bay has also been used to hold suspected terrorists. The site has been the focus of controversy in the past over the alleged mistreatment of detainees — including claims of abuse and torture.
