Like other recently confirmed members of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth hit the ground running in an effort to advance the current administration’s America First agenda.
As such, he enthusiastically endorsed Trump’s plan to repurpose part of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility for the housing of immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally.
Hegseth reacted to the presidential memo in an on-air conversation with Fox News Channel’s Jesse Watters:
Sec Def Pete Hegseth: "Guantanamo has long been a place for migrants. In fact, in the '90s, tens of thousands of Haitian and Cuban migrants staged there as part of a crisis. We have an even bigger crisis on our hands now."
pic.twitter.com/yxAO36MDXm— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) January 30, 2025
According to The Hill:
“Guantánamo Bay, Jesse, is a perfect spot,” Hegseth said in an interview on Fox News’s “Jesse Waters Reports.”
“We don’t want illegal criminals in the United States any— not a minute longer than they have to be,” he continued. “Move them off to Guantánamo Bay, where they can be safely maintained until they are deported to their final location, their country of origin, where they are headed.”
The memo Trump signed directs the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to prepare a 30,000-person migrant facility at Guantánamo Bay, a facility in Cuba that has been used to house military prisoners, including several involved in the 9/11 attacks.
ADVERTISEMENTAsked whether Guantánamo Bay can accommodate 30,000 people, Hegseth said, “Absolutely we can. And we can plus that up very rapidly.”
The Trump Administration’s enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws has stood in stark contrast to the polices of the preceding four years:
🚨NEW: Former Biden acting ICE Director P.J. Lechleitner praises Trump admin's illegal immigration crackdown:
"It’s nice to see the people of ICE getting the support they need to do the work that they’re being asked to do.”@DailyCaller pic.twitter.com/Tn44FvSagN
— Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) January 27, 2025
Biden reimagined immigration by normalizing open borders, fraudulent asylum, and turning temporary protected status into permanence.
This chaos isn’t normal, no matter the left’s gaslighting.
On Day One, President Trump crushed this madness.
FULL ROAST 🔥 LINK IN BIO pic.twitter.com/2QubuG21Ce
— Wesley Hunt (@WesleyHuntTX) January 22, 2025
Trump: "Joe Biden wants to be the president for illegal aliens and I want to be the president for Americans of every background…" Chesapeake, VA rally. pic.twitter.com/pTTqVhZC4M
— RSBN 🇺🇸 (@RSBNetwork) June 28, 2024
NPR provided some additional context about Trump’s memo regarding Guantánamo Bay:
The Trump administration said the deported migrants would not be held in the U.S. military prison at Guantánamo that now houses suspected foreign terrorists, including alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Instead, it said, they would be held in a separate area on the naval station portion of Guantánamo, which for decades has had a detention facility for migrants intercepted at sea, mostly Haitians, Cubans and Dominicans.
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