Trump's Guantanamo ICE facility an end-run around Congressional inspections
Source: USA Today
Published 4:03 p.m. ET Feb. 21, 2025
President Donald Trump's decision to fly ICE detainees to a U.S. military base in Cuba has effectively blocked almost anyone ‒ including members of Congress ‒ from monitoring what's happening there. During the first Trump administration, lawmakers passed a measure allowing them to conduct surprise inspections at any ICE facilities
Some members of Congress are still using that power to inspect sites within their constituencies, reporting everything from the number of detainees to how hot the water is in sinks, and how many medical professionals are on site. By establishing a 30,000-bed ICE facility on the Guantanamo Bay naval base, Trump has made an end run around the power Congress specifically gave itself as a check on the executive branch.
Now, some members of Congress are expressing concern that Trump's move means they cannot conduct the kind of oversight their equal branch of government is supposed to do, from checking whether conditions are humane to ensuring that taxpayer money isn't being wasted.
NBC News reported Thursday, and USA TODAY has independently confirmed, that ICE agents had cleared out all of the approximately 180 detainees being held at Guantanamo but were preparing to transfer more in. ICE did not respond to a request for comment.
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/21/ice-camp-guantanamo-bay-surprise-review-trump/79350737007/