ICE Removes 177 Venezuelans From Guantanamo Bay

February 21, 2025 TruthUSA

On Thursday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed that the illegal immigrants were transported to Honduras, where they were collected by the Venezuelan government.

ICE officials have successfully removed 177 Venezuelan illegal immigrants from a detention center located at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, returning them to their homeland.

The Trump administration had established a detention facility at the base aimed at “holding the most dangerous criminal illegal aliens posing a threat to the American populace.” Reports of the transfer from Guantanamo Bay were substantiated by ICE in a post on X dated February 20 here.

“ICE Air Operations facilitated the transport of 177 Venezuelan illegal immigrants from Guantanamo Bay to Honduras today, where they were taken in by the Venezuelan government for repatriation,” the agency announced.

In a bid to expedite the deportation process for those who have entered the U.S. illegally, the Trump administration has reached agreements with Colombia, Venezuela, and El Salvador to accept flights for repatriating deportees.

Trump instructed the Defense and Homeland Security departments last month via memo to establish a detention capacity for up to 30,000 individuals at Guantanamo Bay for illegal immigrants.

“We have 30,000 beds in Guantanamo to detain the most dangerous criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people. Some of these individuals are extremely dangerous … so we are going to transfer them to Guantanamo. This will immediately double our capacity,” Trump remarked during the signing ceremony for the Laken Riley Act on January 29.

On the same day, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem informed reporters that the White House is exploring how to effectively utilize the resources presently available at Guantanamo Bay.

She noted that the financial aspects of running these detention facilities could potentially be managed via the reconciliation process in the House of Representatives.

Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, stated that ICE would oversee the operations of the detention center.

“There’s an existing migrant center at Guantanamo that has been operational for decades. Our plan is simply to expand upon this facility,” Homan remarked, joining Noem in the press briefing.

The base was first utilized as a military detention site by President George W. Bush in 2002 to hold foreign terrorist suspects following the September 11, 2001, attacks.

After years of efforts by President Barack Obama to close the detention center, Trump signed an executive order in 2018 to keep Guantanamo Bay open as a military prison. The Biden administration has been working to wind down its activities.

Following Trump’s directive, ICE initiated the transport of illegal immigrants to Guantanamo Bay. Within a week of this order, the Pentagon announced transporting 10 individuals classified as “high-threat” while officials from the Department of Homeland Security and Defense continued to develop plans for the 30,000-person facility.

On February 9, a federal court ruled to temporarily block the transfer of three Venezuelan men from a detention center in New Mexico to the naval base. The individuals had requested a temporary restraining order against their possible transfer.

Shortly after, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, asserting that illegal immigrants in the Guantanamo facility are being deprived of their rights to legal counsel, the Fifth Amendment right to due process, the First Amendment right to communicate with the outside world, and their right to habeas corpus.

T.J. Muscaro and Aldgra Fredly contributed to this report.

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