Defense Department and Homeland Security officials are rushing to erect several tent facilities in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to house thousands of migrants. However, the disorganized efforts have raised internal concerns about who will be in charge and what will happen once people get to the location.
Several federal agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, each with their own set of responsibilities and areas of expertise, have been involved in the historic decision to transport migrants from the United States to Guantanamo Bay.
Although DHS and DOD have previously collaborated on border security tasks, officials told CNN that working together at Guantanamo has proven to be a difficult task fraught with uncertainty.
Nobody truly understands the situation with DOD, ICE, and CBP. Everyone is blaming others, claiming that "they are in charge," "they are paying for this," and "they are providing security." According to a source familiar with the preparations, "no one actually knows."
Immigrant advocates have criticized the Trump administration's decision to start sending migrants to Guantanamo Bay on US military planes last week, and the American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit over the migrants' lack of access to legal counsel.
According to official statistics provided to CNN, seven military planes have transported 98 migrants from the United States to Guantanamo Bay as of Wednesday.
"More planning ought to have been done before the execution. Another person with knowledge of the matter told CNN, "Now that execution has started, everyone is attempting to go back to planning."
The source went on to say, "Everyone is fighting for command, control, and direction."
The process by which the administration selects individuals for transfer is unknown. According to one source acquainted, all of them have been men thus far and were judged to have "criminality," which can range from more minor infractions of immigration laws to alleged membership in the infamous Tren de Aragua gang.
Guantanamo Bay is detaining illegal aliens with final deportation orders in addition to violent gang members and other high-threat individuals.A senior Homeland Security source told CNN that "every single alien at Guantanamo Bay has a final deportation order," adding that "all these individuals committed a crime by entering the United States illegally."