ACLU demands access to Guantanamo immigrant detention center
Source: USA Today
Published 10:56 a.m. ET Feb. 7, 2025
The ACLU on Friday demanded attorneys be granted access to immigrants shipped to Guantanamo, saying the law forbids the government from using the prison as "a legal black hole."
The Trump administration has transferred some two dozen immigrant detainees to the U.S. Naval base in Cuba since announcing in January it would use the prison – which once held accused Al Qaeda terrorists – as an immigration detention center.
President Donald Trump ordered his administration to prepare the facility to hold as many as 30,000 immigrant detainees.
"If they were on U.S. soil, they would have the right to retain counsel," said Lee Gelernt, an ACLU attorney who argued high profile cases against the first Trump administration, including family separation. "The government cannot simply fly them to Guantanamo and wipe away their rights."
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/07/aclu-demands-attorney-immigrants-guantanamo/78327975007/
Link to ACLU LETTER (site has PDF viewer) - Letter to DHS, DOD, State Department Requesting Access to and Information Regarding Immigrants Transferred from the United States and Detained at Guantánamo Bay
Link to ACLU LETTER (PDF) - https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2025/02/2025.02.07-GTMO-Access-Demand-Letter-FINAL-1.pdf
= new reply since forum marked as read
