Press secretary says at least two deportation flights to Cuban base of undocumented immigrants ‘under way’
The Trump administration has begun flying undocumented immigrants from the US to a military detention facility at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said on Tuesday.
Leavitt told Fox Business Network that at least two deportation flights were “under way”, but gave no further details.
Her comments, however, appeared to confirm reporting by the Wall Street Journal, citing an anonymous official with knowledge of the operation, that about a dozen immigrants were onboard one flight from Fort Bliss, Texas. The newspaper said an additional flight had departed on Monday.
CNN later reported one of the flights had “about nine or 10” people onboard who were detained in the US without valid immigration documents.
By May 2003, the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had grown into a larger and more permanent facility that housed over 680 prisoners, the vast majority without formal charges.