Published on January 29, 2025
This presidential memorandum directs the Secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security to expand the Migrant Operations Center at Guantanamo Bay to full capacity for detaining "high-priority criminal aliens" who are unlawfully present in the United States. The action is officially presented as a measure to halt border invasion, combat criminal cartels, and restore national sovereignty, while explicitly stating it creates no enforceable rights or benefits.
The use of a military facility (Guantanamo Bay) for civilian immigration enforcement suggests a concerning militarization of immigration policy, while the vague term "high-priority criminal aliens" leaves significant discretionary power to determine who falls into this category. The memorandum's explicit disclaimer about creating no enforceable rights effectively shields the government from legal accountability while potentially circumventing normal detention facility oversight and due process protections that would apply on mainland U.S. soil.
While framed as a national security measure, this action appears designed to create an extra-judicial detention system outside the reach of normal legal protections and oversight mechanisms. The public should be particularly attentive to how "high-priority criminal aliens" are defined in practice and whether this expansion of detention capabilities at Guantanamo Bay could set a precedent for circumventing constitutional protections in immigration enforcement.
MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE THE SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY SUBJECT: Expanding Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to Full Capacity I hereby direct the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security to take all appropriate actions to expand the Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to full capacity to provide additional detention space for high-priority criminal aliens unlawfully present in the United States, and to address attendant immigration enforcement needs identified by the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security. This memorandum is issued in order to halt the border invasion, dismantle criminal cartels, and restore national sovereignty. This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.