GUANTANAMO BAY
"The message is clear: If you break the law, if you are a criminal, you can find your way at Guantanamo Bay." ~Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth
How many people were paying attention to Guantanamo Bay prior to Donald Trump’s presidency? Most of us probably knew it existed and that it housed the terrorists who attacked our country. Other than that, I wonder how many everyday Americans were aware of the agreement between Cuba and the United States allowing us access to the area. Or how many understand that there are different areas of the island; one area housing the Navy base and another area housing the detention center. Or that its residents contain not just the 9/11 attackers but also attackers from the USS Cole bombing and other terror attacks?
There didn’t seem to be much interest in the area in years past. When Obama was elected, he vowed to close it but failed. President Trump not only kept it open, he upgraded it. Now suddenly Guantanamo Bay is being pushed into focus. I wonder why.
Last year I set out to understand the area and the improvements that had taken place there. I wanted to learn for myself if any of the rumors or conspiracy theories I heard (and believe myself) were true. The rumors regarding improvements are true and can be confirmed through the Department of Defense and media reporting. The conspiracy theories are a little harder to prove. New restrictions placed on the media in 2018 only contribute to the mystery and conspiracy theories. It was odd that after decades of access to the area, the media was suddenly restricted in where they could go and what they could photograph. In my conspiracy mind, it only made sense that the government was hiding something.
The Current (Semi-Permanent) Residents
The first detainees arrived at Guantanamo Bay in January 2002. They include suspects in the USS Cole bombing, the September 11th World Trade Center attacks, and other terrorist attacks.
The New York Times published Trial Guides for the USS Cole and September 11th terrorist attacks if you’re interested in understanding more about those trials. The USS Cole attack took place in October 2000 and the suspect was captured in 2002. The date of his trial is set for 2025, almost 23 years after he was taken into custody. The reason for the delays range from challenges by both sets of lawyers, a judge throwing out two years of rulings due to a conflict of interest, the dismissal of the suspect’s confession, and of course, Covid. It’s not my place to say what is or isn’t the right course of action in this case but it seems to me that the only people getting any relief from this trial are the lawyers. I’m assuming that both the prosecution and defense attorneys are being funded by the American taxpayer.
The most notorious detainees at Guantanamo Bay are the suspects in the September 11th World Trade Center attacks. Four different judges have presided over that case since the defendants were arraigned in 2012. Like the USS Cole bombings, the delays in the trial are hard to digest. They include the change in judges, weather in Cuba, weather in Washington DC, power outages, communications problems, and of course, Covid. To add to the extended delay was a plea deal that was agreed to and then cancelled during the Biden term.
After almost two years of negotiations, in July 2024, the lawyers for the three 9/11 attackers announced that they had reached a plea agreement. However, in August, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revoked the plea deals saying that he was the one with the authority to negotiate such a deal. On November 7th, the judge presiding over the trial ruled that the plea agreements were valid and that Defense Secretary Austin exceeded his authority when he revoked them. The plea deals were back on track and the defendants could plead guilty to their involvement in the attack. The hearing on the plea deals was rescheduled for January 22, 2025.
I assume this should have closed the chapter on the 9/11 cases, but another delay prevented that from happening. On January 23, 2025, the prosecutor asked the judge to delay the proceedings until the Trump Administration was in place and could familiarize themselves with the plea deal. Just like the USS Cole trial, I assume both sets of lawyers are funded by the American taxpayer.
Catherine Herridge Reports
In November 2024, the Department of Defense invited the media to cover the 9/11 pre-trial proceedings scheduled for January 20-31, 2025. The DoD release stated that the purpose was to cover the proceedings and tours of the detention facilities would not be available. Requests for reporting on topics unrelated to the military commissions were to be coordinated in advance.
We’ve been led to believe that Catherine Herridge is a journalist who is somewhat in the loop, and we should “follow the pen.” When she posted to X from Camp Justice the day before President Trump’s inauguration, renewed interest in Guantanamo Bay spiked. She included a suggestive message of “stay tuned” on her X post. It was only natural for us to anticipate exciting news. Unfortunately, it was obvious pretty quickly that Catherine wasn’t going to deliver a groundbreaking disclosure when she added the $7 monthly subscription to her posts. Expecting us to pay a monthly subscription to learn about the justice we’ve been waiting for would just be cruel. If something noteworthy happened while Catherine was there, we would know it by now.
Although I didn’t subscribe to Catherine’s reporting, I’ve seen some of the videos from her time there. I was surprised by the photos and videos she posted to X. Media restrictions and tightened censorship began during President Trump’s first term. The new restrictions were not well received by journalists and in 2023, The Intercept published an article titled, Censorship Has Never Been Worse at Guantanamo Bay. With that in mind, it was odd to see Catherine Herridge posting videos she filmed with a production crew. She may have requested approval in advance, but there is a noticeable difference in her images and those from journalists who speak of the delay in getting approval for basic photographs.
Carol Rosenberg of the New York Times has been reporting from Guantanamo Bay for over two decades. The video below contains her interpretation of the current operations there.
Since she was there at the same time as Catherine Herridge, I assumed they were both reporting on the hearings for the 9/11 and USS Cole bombing cases. Although I haven’t seen all of Catherine’s reporting, I found it unusual that she didn’t mention the power outages that delayed the hearings. While I may have missed her reporting, it seemed like important information to share, even with unpaid subscribers. Carol Rosenberg mentioned it almost daily.
On January 22nd Rosenberg reported that an unscheduled power outage had plunged the media center and other facilities into darkness. That afternoon she reported more rolling power outages. “It’s been a challenge to holding and reporting on these war court hearings.” The next day, Rosenberg posted that she was heading back to court for the 9/11 hearings, saying “Hopefully the power grid is less wobbly today at Guantánamo Bay. I was told that the power failed four times yesterday during the hearings in the USS Cole case at the adjacent new courthouse.” Later that day, she posted that a power outage had forced an extended midmorning recess. “There's still no explanation for these unusual disruptions.” It almost feels like the delays are intentional.
Rosenberg’s update on January 24th was, “It's been a rough, if short week for the war court: Two hearings, two courtrooms, two sets of translators and stenographers and periodic power outages unpredictably stopping the proceedings.” That same day, Herridge reported that she met with USS Cole survivors who told her they hoped that President Trump could get the case to trial, saying, “This is the trial that never ends." This is understandable considering the USS Cole bombing took place 25 years ago. Catherine didn’t mention the power outages.
On January 27th, Catherine reported that hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars are spent every year on the ongoing trials. “Multiple Administrations, both Republican and Democrat, have failed to close these operations. As we return to Washington DC, it’s time for answers on how US tax dollars are being spent, government efficiency, and why justice has been delayed for so many victims and their families.” She tagged DOGE in that post.
We’ve been led to believe that Catherine is a trusted journalist so it was odd that she was questioning the spending at Guantanamo Bay now. It’s true that millions of dollars are spent per inmate. In 2013 with 166 prisoners, the per inmate cost was estimated at $2.7 million. Today, with 15 prisoners, the cost increased to an estimated $44 million per inmate.
Catherine asked if it was time for the ‘DOGE treatment’ at Guantanamo Bay. With almost a billion dollars in Department of Defense contracts as well as the annual cost of operations, it’s not a bad idea. Her calling attention to it under President Trump’s leadership is what I find interesting. There seems to be an increase in focus on Guantanamo Bay. On January 30th Catherine posted, “Based on President Trump's new memorandum, things will be getting busier at the base,” in reference to his Memorandum expanding migrant operations. She didn’t mention DOGE or government efficiency at that time. Was the billion dollars in awarded contracts intended for migrant operations, for the 15 terrorist inmates, or for some other reason?
Illegal Immigrants (They’re not Migrants)
On January 29, 2025, President Trump signed a Memorandum expanding the migrant operations center at Guantanamo to full capacity. In the early 1990s, the area was home to a detention camp for Haitian and Cuban refugees. Tent cities were built, and more than 45,000 refugees were held there. The detention camp and its tent cities were overseen by then-Attorney General William Barr. The same William Barr who served as Attorney General in the first Trump administration. Knowing that, is it odd that he hasn’t offered a recent opinion on the temporary detention of immigrants at Guantanamo Bay?
The detention of illegal immigrants at Guantanamo Bay has been in the works for several years. In 2017, the Army flew in 400 troops, plus Homeland Security and Department of State officials to rehearse a mock migration crisis. The Miami Herald reported that “the proposed up-to $100 million migrant camp project is a bit mysterious.”
While writing Welcome to the Bay, I envisioned the revamped tent city migrant camp would be used for members of Antifa or BLM who participated in the attempted overthrow of our country. There was a video of a man at a protest handing money to rioters. Those people probably didn’t realize they were participating in the attempted overthrow of our country. To them it was an excuse to cause chaos and get paid for it. There was also a video of guy jumping out of a minivan in front of a group of protestors. He grabs someone from the group, throws him in the van and the van takes off. The people left standing on the sidewalk recorded the encounter. It was clear this was a person with authority hauling someone off, and the people left behind were shocked by it. There were many reports of people in fatigues grabbing people and throwing them into unmarked cars. Where were those people whisked off to? The reports of pallets of bricks dropped off in cities prior to planned protests had to be orchestrated by someone. Those are the people I imagined were residing in tent cities in Guantanamo Bay. Not illegal immigrants.
So far, the people we’re told have been sent to Guantanamo Bay have been from Venezuela. The Tren de Aragua gang from Venezuela are who we should fear the most. After all, they were eating the dogs in Ohio. Whatever happened to MS-13 and their scary neck tattoos? The news was filled with their mugshots and stories of their violent criminal acts. Why weren’t MS-13 gang members shipped to Guantanamo Bay? Why is there a renewed interest in sending immigrants to Guantanamo Bay if not to draw attention to the area?
The Troops
Although media restrictions were placed on the area in 2018, new images of the tents have been circulated through the media. More media coverage is happening there than has happened in many years.
On February 3rd, military troops arrived at Guantanamo Bay to assist in the illegal immigrant detention operation. In less than a week of signing the memorandum, the federal government had mobilized troops and sent them to Guantanamo Bay. Now that is an example of government efficiency we’re not used to seeing.
Over 1,000 troops, in addition to those already stationed there, were deployed to Guantanamo Bay. Military medical personnel, including surgeons and OB-GYN specialists, were preparing for deployment to Guantanamo Bay and were told to plan on being stationed there for more than six months.
According to the Department of Defense, the first flight containing 10 immigrants arrived in Guantanamo Bay on February 5th, just one week after the Memorandum was issued. "We want somewhere else to hold them safely in the interim - criminal illegals - Guantanamo Bay ... is a perfect place," said Pete Hegseth.
On February 12th, The New York Times reported that Homeland Security and the Defense Department have been unwilling to answer questions about what was happening to the immigrants at Guantanamo Bay. Although the names of the first immigrants were not released, the New York Times published a list of 53 men who were reportedly being held in Camp 6, a 200-cell minimum security prison.
On February 20th, as the media continued reporting on the tragedy of the poor innocent immigrants being held at Guantanamo Bay, and as lawsuits were being filed on the unfairness of it all, The New York Times reported that the immigrants had abruptly been cleared out. Two passenger planes operated by a charter aircraft company flew to Guantanamo Bay to take the illegal immigrants back to Venezuela.
Prior to their transfer out of Guantanamo Bay, questions were being raised about whether the government has the legal authority to take people there for detention. Immigrant rights’ lawyers have gone to court seeking access to the immigrants, and others are expected to file challenges to the policy. If you entered the country illegally, why would you have any rights to an American lawyer? Thankfully, the government is not required to provide free legal representation to illegal immigrants, so at least we don’t have to pay for that. We only have to pay to feed, cloth, temporarily house them, and pay for their transportation back home.
The majority of our media is still anti-American and it can be seen in the contrast between the Laura Ingraham Fox News report and the NBC News report from Guantanamo Bay. If you watch both reports you will immediately notice the difference in the pro-America and anti-America reporting of both networks.
The movement of immigrants to Guantanamo Bay and their quick transfer out of the area caught the media by surprise. Just as they were gearing up for their bleeding-heart series of the immigrants who were there, planes arrived to take them back to their homes. We’ve become accustomed to the chaotic nature of events surrounding the Trump Administration even if the media still hasn’t.
Jonathan Blitzer with The New Yorker wrote about the chaos, and it’s clear he still doesn’t understand its purpose. Blitzer wrote that President Trump “added a fresh indignity to Guantanamo’s dark history” with his Memorandum. “Migrants were villainized and treated like an existential threat to the country.” To Laken Riley, José Antonio Ibarra was an existential threat, as is every other immigrant who is in our country illegally. Americans shouldn’t have to wait to become a victim of violent crime before our government acts on our out-of-control illegal immigration problem.
In Blitzer’s opinion, sending detainees to Guantánamo seems more like a public-relations stunt than like an operational decision. These people aren’t “migrants” escaping a tsunami in Haiti. They made a conscious decision to enter our country without following our laws. They committed a crime. Perhaps Blitzer would feel better if he sponsored a group of immigrants.
The only area Blitzer got right was the chaos surrounding Guantanamo Bay. Like so many other members of the media, he doesn’t understand President Trump’s Art of Distraction that keeps the media chasing their tails while important meaningful work is undertaken to Make America Great Again. If there is one thing the movement of immigrants to Guantanamo Bay has accomplished, it’s gotten everyone to pay attention to the area to see what happens next. Is that the point? In addition to the attention drawn to Guantanamo Bay, I’m sure seeing others sent there has served as a good deterrent to illegals still in the country or those who considered coming. You are not welcome here, and we will send you to Guantanamo Bay if you choose to come illegally.
Any lawyer pursuing legal action and any member of the media publishing negative articles about the deportation of people who came to the United States illegally should be considered enemies of the people. If those lawyers and media spent as much time advocating for American citizens as they did the illegals among us, our world would be a better place.
Why the Upgrades?
Almost a billion dollars has been contracted to renovate the area since President Trump first came into office. Were those improvements for the illegal immigrants who will be sent there? In 2018 the Pentagon invoked emergency construction authority and notified Congress that it planned to spend $14 million on a new war court. They cited national security and called the construction a strategically crucial time-sensitive expansion project. Why in 2018 was this project considered time-sensitive? Is the new war court for the illegal immigrants or the 15 remaining terror suspects? What about the contracts for the legal complex with added SCIF’s, the detention legal office, and other improvements to the area? Was that intended for illegal immigrants?
There are still a lot of questions surrounding Guantanamo Bay. For now, it seems that our attention is being drawn to the area. The days of ignorant bliss of what happens in our government are gone for many of us. We’ve grown accustomed to so many balls in the air that it’s difficult to remain focused on just one. Just this week we had Social Media influencers pushing for the release of the Epstein list, the immigrants in – and out – of Guantanamo Bay, and President Trump kicking Zelensky out of the Oval Office. Will there ever come a day when the ball settles somewhere and we can focus on what really was – and what will be?
For me, I’m quite the conspiracy theorist and nothing seems real to me. “You are watching a movie,” sits well with me and limits my level of freak-out. I’m optimistic and more than ready for whatever comes next. My gut tells me that our attention is being drawn to Guantanamo Bay for a reason and it’s not to call attention to illegal immigrants who spend a night or two there. It’s also not to call attention to the terror suspects that have been there for decades.
Links to my other papers on Guantanamo Bay:
Thank you for your digging. Great info!
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