After Visiting Guantanamo Bay, Senators Blast Trump Admin for Wasting Taxpayer Dollars & Misusing Military Resources
Delegation scrutinizes military role in DHS migrant relocation operations
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Yesterday, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, joined a delegation of U.S. Senators in traveling to Naval Station Guantánamo Bay, Cuba (GTMO) to conduct oversight of the ongoing Department of Defense activities to support the Department of Homeland Security in the unlawful relocation of migrants.
The delegation was led by Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), and included Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Gary Peters (D-Mich.), the Ranking Member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Senator Angus King (I-Maine), a senior member of SASC.
The Senators conducted a firsthand examination of the missions underway at GTMO. They met with military servicemembers, ICE officers, and DHS officials to fully understand the costs and military readiness impacts of these missions.
After returning from the trip, Senators Padilla, Reed, Shaheen, King, and Peters issued the following statement:
“We salute the outstanding American servicemembers and DHS officials who are working tirelessly at Guantanamo Bay. Our troops in Guantanamo have a uniquely difficult, demanding job that requires great sacrifices by them and their families. We know that border security and immigration enforcement are critical to our national security, and we thank these servicemembers, ICE officers, and defense civilians for their professionalism and candor with us.
“However, after examining the migrant relocation activities at Guantanamo Bay, we are outraged by the scale and wastefulness of the Trump Administration’s misuse of our military. It is obvious that Guantanamo Bay is a likely illegal and certainly illogical location to detain immigrants. Its use is seemingly designed to undermine due process and evade legal scrutiny.
“The staggering financial cost to fly these immigrants out of the United States and detain them at Guantanamo Bay—a mission worth tens of millions of dollars a month—is an insult to American taxpayers. President Trump could implement his immigration policies for a fraction of the cost by using existing ICE facilities in the U.S., but he is obsessed with the image of using Guantanamo, no matter the cost.
“Worse, President Trump is undermining our military readiness at a perilous moment in the world. We met with dozens of servicemembers who were rushed to Guantanamo Bay without notice, leaving their critical day-to-day military missions behind in order to build tents that should never be filled and guard immigrants who should never be held there. Our troops will always answer the call and get the job done, but their invaluable time and resources are being carelessly wasted by the President on this mission.
“We are also angered that we had to fly to Cuba to get answers to the questions we’ve been asking the Trump Administration for months. By steadfastly ignoring Congress, Defense Secretary Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Noem are forcing their servicemembers and officers on the ground to try to make sense of Trump’s contradictory and political orders without any guidance or support.
“We are calling on the Trump Administration to immediately cease this misguided mission. The migrant relocation operation at Guantanamo Bay is unsustainably expensive, operating under questionable legal authority, and harmful to our military readiness.”
Last month, Padilla denounced Trump’s relocation of immigrants from the United States to Guantánamo Bay as unlawful and demanded answers regarding these relocations. In the letter, Padilla and the other Senators emphasized that noncitizens in ICE custody are entitled to legal protections under immigration law and the Constitution, including due process.
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