Lawsuit challenges Trump’s “cruel and illegal” transfers of migrants to Guantánamo

The ACLU, CCR and IRAP take aim at Trump’s lawless cruelty, powerfully invoking US law and the Constitution.

In my latest article on my website, Lawsuit Challenges Trump’s “Cruel, Unnecessary and Illegal” Transfers of Migrants to Guantánamo, which I hope you have time to read, I write about an important lawsuit submitted to the District Court in Washington, D.C. on Saturday (March 1) by the ACLU, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), asking the Court to urgently intervene to "put a stop" to what they accurately describe as the Trump administration’s "cruel, unnecessary and illegal transfers" of migrants to the naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Over the last month, over 200 migrants have been sent to Guantánamo from the US mainland, with the majority, unnervingly, held in Camp 6 of the "war on terror" prison, despite the military having no authority for doing so, because, by law, the prison can only hold those allegedly involved with Al-Qaeda, the Taliban or associated forces, in connection with the 9/11 attacks and other acts of international terrorism.

The lawsuit was submitted on behalf of ten named individuals — seven Venezuelans, an Afghan, a Pakistani and a Bangladeshi — who are currently being held in immigration detention facilities in Texas, Virginia and Arizona run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but who legitimately fear being sent to Guantánamo.

The lawyers correctly argue that, even though the men’s asylum claims were ultimately unsuccessful, and they have all been subjected to "final removal" orders, they are still protected by the US Constitution, and by US law; specifically, the Immigration and Nationality Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. Regarding the Constitution, the lawyers argue that the transfers and detention of the migrants at Guantánamo "violate due process under the Fifth Amendment because the transfers are undertaken for punitive, illegitimate reasons and the conditions in which the detainees are housed are unconstitutional."

It is to be hoped that the Court arranges a hearing soon, and that the judge recognizes the illegality of the Trump administration’s actions, and can act to stop it. As the lawyers state unequivocally in their lawsuit, "The government has identified no legitimate reason for transferring and holding detainees at Guantánamo, rather than at detention facilities inside the United States. Instead, Defendants are using the threat of detention on Guantánamo to frighten immigrants, deter future migration, induce self-deportation, and coerce people in detention to give up claims and accept deportation elsewhere. These are impermissible justifications for civil immigration detention."

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Thanks to everyone taking an interest in this latest phase in the long history of lawlessness and dehumanization at Guantánamo. Tomorrow (March 5), the latest coordinated monthly vigils for Guantánamo’s closure are taking place across the US and around the world, at which we’ll be highlighting the horrors of Trump’s “war on migrants”, as well as calling for justice for the 15 men still held in the “war on terror” prison. Check out the poster below, and come along if there’s a vigil near you. I’ll be posting a report with photos soon.