- Mexican officials said on Tuesday that they will not allow the United States to send Mexican nationals to Guantánamo Bay. Officials stated that Mexico wants to receive them directly instead, according to the country’s foreign minister.
- Mexican Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente announced his government had sent the U.S. Embassy a diplomatic note with the request.
- The note came the same day the United States announced the first flight to Guantánamo Bay carrying migrants.
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The same day that the United States announced it flew nearly a dozen detained migrants to Guantánamo Bay, Mexican officials said they would not allow the Trump administration to send deported Mexican nationals to the naval base.
Mexico’s Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente said on Tuesday, Feb. 4, that his government had sent a diplomatic note to the U.S. Embassy disclosing that Mexico would rather receive Mexican migrants instead of having them sent overseas.
What will Trump do, and when was the plan announced?
It’s unknown yet if the Trump administration will comply with Mexico’s request, which comes on the heels of President Donald Trump’s order to house potentially tens of thousands of migrants at the naval base in Cuba.
President Trump announced those plans just a week ago.
On Wednesday, Jan. 29, Trump said, “Today, I’m signing an executive order to instruct the departments of Defense and Homeland Security to begin preparing the 30,000-person migrant facility at Guantánamo Bay to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people.”
How will it impact migrants in the United States?
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the first flight to Guantánamo Bay carried 9-10 migrants that it described as “highly dangerous criminals.” The agency did not reveal the migrants’ nationalities or their apparent crimes.
DHS officials declined to comment on whether migrant women, children or families would be held in Guantánamo Bay.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the Trump administration does not plan on holding migrants at the facility indefinitely and would follow federal laws.
DHS officials also said detained migrants will be held separately from terror suspects, including those involved in planning the 9/11 terror attacks.
What are others saying about the plans?
Last week, Cuba’s president criticized Trump’s plan to house thousands of migrants in Guantánamo Bay, calling it an “act of brutality.”
