The Pentagon spent at least $21 million transporting migrants to Guantanamo Bay on military aircraft between January 20 and April 8, new figures provided to Congress show. The naval base, which has been plagued by a myriad of legal challenges, currently holds 32 migrants.
The new figures were provided by the U.S. military to Congress. The naval base has held under 500 migrants since President Donald Trump took office in January, and it has never held more than 200 at any one time, according to NBC News. That number is way less than the promised 30,000 by the president.
Based on the numbers provided, the average cost per flight hour for the military aircraft has been $26,277, and the Pentagon revealed it took 46 flights from U.S. detention centers to Guantanamo Bay. Many of the migrants sent to Guantanamo have reportedly been flown back to the U.S., according to The Independent.
To be more specific, out of those 46 flights, the Pentagon conducted 31 of those in military and contract airlift that carried personnel equipment and supplies to Guantanamo. They transported 715 passengers and 1,016.9 tons of cargo, according to NBC News.
According to NBC News, the White House is preparing for an increase in capacity at the naval base and is ordering an additional weekly flight to the facility. The mission is led by the Department of Homeland Security and involves Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, as well as the military. Eventually, DHS switched to more cost-effective deportations methods using commercial flights.
Democrats criticized the high cost of the flights associated with the operation, named “Operation Southern Guard,” as well as the questionable conditions faced by migrants in the detention center. Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren said the effort was a costly and wasteful political maneuver.
“Every American should be outraged by Donald Trump wasting military resources to pay for his political stunts that do not make us safer,” Warren said. “U.S. service members did not sign up for this abuse of power.”
The new receipts come as two Nicaraguan migrants held at the naval base filed a lawsuit on April 26 citing that detainees are held in extreme isolation, cut off from meaningful access to legal counsel or candid communication with relatives.
The revised lawsuit asks a federal judge in Washington to intervene on behalf of all future immigrants at Guantanamo, according to The Associated Press. President Trump has previously said that the naval base houses the “worst of the worst,” yet several reports have shown many of the migrants held there have no criminal record.
“Offircers at Guantanamo have created a climate of extreme fear and intimidation where immigrant detainees are afraid to communicate freely with their counsel,” the lawsuit says, adding that conditions are more restrictive than at mainland detention facilities, prisons and in some instances law-of-war military custody at Guantanamo Bay.
Originally published on Latin Times
