Guantanamo Bay detention camp

Guantanamo Bay detention camp

Camp Five Gate at Guantanamo Bay
Location within Cuba
Location	Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba
Coordinates	19°54′9″N 75°6′0″W / 19.90250°N 75.10000°W / 19.90250; -75.10000
Status	Operational
Population	15 (as of January 2025)
Opened	11 January 2002; 23 years ago (2002-01-11)
Managed by	United States Navy

The Guantanamo Bay detention camp,^{[note 1]} also known as GTMO (/ˈɡɪtmoʊ/ GIT-moh), GITMO (/ˈɡɪtmoʊ/ GIT-moh), or simply Guantanamo Bay, is a United States military prison within Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NSGB), on the coast of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. It was established in 2002 by president George W. Bush to hold terrorism suspects and "illegal enemy combatants" during the "war on terror" following the September 11 attacks. As of January 2025^[update], at least 780 people from 48 countries have been detained at the camp since its creation, of whom 756 had been released or transferred to other detention facilities, 9 died in custody, and 15 remain.^[1]

Following the September 11 attacks, the U.S. led a multinational military operation against Taliban-ruled Afghanistan to dismantle Al-Qaeda and capture its leader, Osama bin Laden. During the invasion, in November 2001, Bush issued a military order allowing the indefinite detention of foreign nationals without charge and preventing them from legally challenging their detention. The U.S. Department of Justice claimed that habeas corpus—a legal recourse against unlawful detention—did not apply to Guantanamo because it was outside U.S. territory. In January 2002, a temporary detention facility dubbed "Camp X-Ray" was created to house suspected Al-Qaeda members and Taliban fighters.^[2] By May 2003, the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had grown into a larger and permanent facility that housed over 680 prisoners, most without formal charges.^[3][2][4] The Bush administration maintained it was not obliged to grant prisoners protections under the U.S. Constitution or the Geneva Conventions, since the former did not extend to foreign soil and the latter did not apply to "unlawful enemy combatants". Humanitarian and legal advocacy groups claimed these policies were unconstitutional and violated international human rights law;^[5][6] several landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions found that detainees had rights to due process and habeas corpus but were still subject to military tribunals, which remain controversial for allegedly lacking impartiality, independence, and judicial efficiency.^[7][8]

Detainees are reported to have been housed in unfit conditions, abused and tortured, often in the form of "enhanced interrogation techniques".^[9][10] As early as 2003, the International Committee of the Red Cross warned of "deterioration in the psychological health of a large number of detainees".^[11] Reports by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, as well as intergovernmental institutions such as the Organization of American States and the United Nations, concluded that detainees had been systematically mistreated in violation of their human rights.^[11][12] The detention camp has faced legal, political, and international scrutiny, along with criticism regarding its operations and treatment of detainees. In 2005, Bush acknowledged the facility's necessity but expressed a desire for its eventual closure.^[13] His administration began winding down the detainee population, releasing or transferring around 540.^[2] In 2009, Bush's successor, President Barack Obama, ordered closure of the facility within a year and to identify lawful alternatives for detainees; however, bipartisan opposition from the U.S. Congress, on the grounds of national security, prevented closure.^[14] During the Obama Administration, the number of inmates was reduced from 250 to 41, but controversial policies such as use of military courts remained.^[15][16] In 2018, President Donald Trump signed an order to keep the detention camp open indefinitely,^[17] and only one prisoner was repatriated during his administration.^[18] After taking office in 2021, President Joe Biden vowed to close the camp before his term ended,^[19][20] though his administration continued expansions to courtrooms and other facilities.^[21][22][23] Following the release of 25 detainees,^{[24][25][26][27]} 15 detainees remain as of January 2025;^[28] of these, 3 await transfer, 9 have been charged or convicted of war crimes, and three are held in indefinite law-of-war detention, without facing tribunal charges nor being recommended for release.^[1]

In January 2025, Trump signed a memorandum to begin expansion of the Guantanamo Migrant Operations Center to house up to 30,000 migrants under detention, separate from the military prison. The migrant facility will be run by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).^[29] He signed a memorandum for an unnumbered "additional detention space".^[30] In March, the U.S. government transferred an undisclosed number of immigrants from the Guantanamo detention facility to Louisiana.^[31] The transfer came as a court reviews the legality of their detention and relocation. The move follows increased scrutiny of U.S. immigration policies and use of Guantanamo for detaining non-citizens outside of traditional immigration processes.

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