Migrants at Guantanamo lack communication, legal rights: Lawyer

ANKARA

Migrants sent to the US base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, under the Donald Trump administration remain isolated, with no access to communication and uncertain legal rights, according to a US attorney.

"Right now, no one has any access or ability to communicate with migrants" held at Guantanamo, said Shayana Kadidal, senior managing attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights in the US.

Last month, Trump ordered the construction of a detention camp at Guantanamo Bay to hold up to 30,000 "worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people."

Following this, the White House began transporting undocumented migrants – labelled "high threat" and "criminals" – to the Cuban detention center as part of Trump’s mass deportation initiative.

The first group of detainees arrived at the base on Feb. 5.

As of January 2025, the detention center, which has transferred over 700 detainees to other countries, holds 15 detainees, according to the US Department of Defense.

According to Kadidal, the migrants are confined in two facilities at the base – "Camp VI, a former prison used for post-9/11 detainees, and the Migrant Operations Center (MOC), which has held Cuban and Haitian migrants intercepted at sea for the past three decades."

"In our view, whatever legal rights migrants had when they were jailed in the US, they should still have at Guantanamo, including the right to challenge their detention or confinement conditions in federal court," he told Anadolu.

However, Kadidal cautioned that the Trump administration might argue "they have no rights whatsoever" and may assert that "they have already been deported," stripping them of any legal recourse.

- 'Rule of law should follow the American flag'

Kadidal explained that the administration's use of terms like “dangerous criminals” and “gang members” aims to justify denying detainees their rights, similar to the treatment of post-9/11 detainees who were classified as military threats instead of asylum seekers.

"We filed a lawsuit yesterday for three family members of men held there, and they have heard nothing from their relatives in Guantanamo. So, there’s no way to document anything happening there – it is, like it was from 2002 to 2004, a black hole," he said, adding that while the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claims that detainees at the Migrant Operations Center get an hour of free phone calls per month, there are no reports confirming they have actually been able to use this service.

Kadidal also noted that although the DHS has stated no children will be sent to Guantanamo, it remains unclear whether women are also excluded, as detainees so far appear to be exclusively male.

"In our view, the rule of law should follow the American flag. Any place we control fully should be a place where American law applies," he added.

The Guantanamo detention center, established in 2002 as part of the "global war on terror," has faced long-standing criticism for human rights violations, including torture and indefinite detention without trial.

According to the US Defense Department, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is scheduled to visit Naval Station Guantanamo Bay on Tuesday, marking his first trip since taking office in January.