#DOJ returns to the idea that individual people can raise challenges under #HabeasCorpus.

[not exactly an option for people who are already in an El Salvadorian terrorist detention center!]

#Boasberg compares this to the old #Guantanamo cases, in which the courts were able to review whether a detainee was a member of Al Qaeda even if "they had never even set foot in the United States"

#law #Constitution #immigration #AlienEnemiesAct #DueProcess #Judiciary #Trump #AbuseOfPower

The #Guantanamo Bay naval base is seen as a constant threat to Cuba’s sovereignty. Speakers at the rally pointed out that it has been used to plan coups and counter-revolutionary activity ever since 1959. Now that the current US government is taking an even more aggressive stance towards the island, there are fears that such activities at the base could intensify.

That was the public message. But in response to a lawsuit, the #Trump admin later conceded that ~30% of the Venezuelan migrants sent to #Guantánamo were considered "low-threat illegal aliens," & did not have serious #criminal records.

The WH portrays its crackdown on illegal #immigration as an unqualified success. But critics worry that its high-profile removal flights & arrests…may be prioritizing #optics ahead of results, playing into longstanding misperceptions about immigrants & crime.
#law

The registration plan faces several significant obstacles. Immigrants may be *reluctant* to register after watching the #Trump admin order federal officers into US cities & towns to #detain people or send them to #Guantánamo…. And lawyers & legal scholars say the admin’s proposal is on shaky #legal ground & could quickly destabilize communities & an #economy w/millions of unfilled jobs.

The #Trump admin flew nearly 180 migrants from the #US to #Guantánamo & deported all of them to #Venezuela on Thurs. The Post spoke with 3 men who were detained in the US military prison that has been used to house suspected terrorists since the Sept 11, 2001, attacks. All had crossed the border illegally, & although #DHS Secretary #KristiNoem called the migrants transported to #Guantanamo the “worst of the worst,” The Post could find NO criminal record for those interviewed.

Some of the men screamed. Others threatened to kill themselves. One interviewed by WaPo said he attempted it.

During his 2 weeks at the #Guantánamo Bay naval station, Uzcátegui, 27, said he was rarely let outside. Both times, he was #shackled & placed in what he described as a #cage. It was the only sight of the blue Cuban sky he got, so otherworldly it felt like a dream.

“They didn’t treat me like a human being,” he said….

He couldn’t tell when the days started & ended within the windowless, peeling yellow 4 walls of his prison cell in #Guantánamo.

Diuvar Uzcátegui kept track of them by putting a small tear in the last, blank page of a Bible after every 3rd meal. The book was given to him by the #military guards along with a blanket & a ¾" foam pad to sleep on. He went to the bathroom in a bucket connected to a tap in the cell.

And though he couldn’t see his fellow detainees, he could hear them.

…In its response to the lawsuit in which it said it had 178 immigrants #Guantánamo, the #Trump admin also detailed where in the base they were being held. 127 were housed in Camp VI, the high-security detention facility typically used to detain people accused of #terrorism by the #UnitedStates…. Another 51 were housed at the Migrant Operation Center, an existing structure previously reserved for migrants interdicted at sea.

In response, #DOJ lawyers representing the #Trump admin argued on Thurs that migrants could request to speak to lawyers by phone, that it violated the operational authority of #DHS Secy #KristiNoem to be required to give notice & that the admin could hold immigrants in #Guantánamo Bay longer than 6 months. Previous court orders have stated that migrants cannot be held in #ICE detention longer than 6 months & that detention standards should not be punitive.

The removal raises new questions about what rights #immigrants have once in custody in #Guantánamo Bay. Lawyers from #ImmigrantRights’ groups sued the #Trump admin to have in-person access to detainees & 72hrs notice before planes carrying migrants to or away from Guantánamo took off.

The #Trump admin had made a show of moving migrants to #Guantánamo, saying it would be sending the “worst of the worst."

The snr #DHS official told NBC News that it plans to send more #immigrants to Guantánamo, & that the base is being seen as a "staging area" to get migrants to other countries. But 2 sources familiar w/the matter said that DHS has asked the Dept of #Defense to look for alternative locations, & that #DOD is considering other places like Fort Bliss in Texas.

Also Thursday, #Honduras’ foreign ministry announced that the country had accepted a flight with what it said were 174 Venezuelan #immigrants from the #US on board, who would immediately be removed from Honduras to #Venezuela.

The official also said that the varying numbers between the #Trump admin & Honduras could just be a discrepancy.