Dear Friends,

NRCAT is deeply troubled by President Trump's directive this week to prepare Guantánamo to hold up to 30,000 immigrants. The U.S. navy base was used to hold tens of thousands of Haitian and Cuban migrants over several years in the 1990s, though in recent times the Migrant Operations Center on the base has had a reported capacity of only 120. Using Guantánamo to expand immigration detention raises the specter of indefinite detention and miserable conditions in a tent city. It places detained immigrants far from any legal and social supports.

Guantánamo remains a symbol of torture the world over. The Trump Administration’s characterization of migrants in the U.S. as a threat so severe it warrants such extreme measures comes from the same playbook we’ve seen used in the past to justify torture. Whether a scare tactic directed at current or future immigrants or an attempt to allow the indefinite detention of tens of thousands of people, this directive aims to carry out a form of large-scale cruelty rooted in racism and xenophobia that degrades the soul of this nation.

The Migrant Operations Center, where detained immigrants would be held, is separate from the post-9/11 military prison where 780 Muslim men were held, and where 15 men remain to this day 23 years later. Nearly all of the 780 men were never charged with a crime, and the moral stain of “Guantánamo” lingers as the base has been historically used by the U.S. government in a crass attempt to avoid the rule of law.

We invite you to share NRCAT’s statement denouncing the expansion of immigration detention at Guantanamo, in addition to sharing our posts on X(Twitter), Instagram, or Facebook.

We are grateful for all that you do to carry out our shared mission of ending torture in U.S. policy, practice, and culture. The national staff of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture will continue to update you and share opportunities for action in the coming weeks as we work together to ensure the U.S. upholds human rights and does not engage in torture, abuse, and indefinite detention.

In community,

The NRCAT Team