Trump Administration Set To Scrap Guantánamo Immigrant Detention Plan After Cost Spirals To $249,000 Per Inmate

In late January, President Donald Trump announced a plan that would detain tens of thousands of migrants at the U.S. military camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Trump said that the facility would detain up to 30,000 of “the worst criminal illegal aliens,” and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insisted soon after that Guantánamo Bay was “a perfect place” for migrants.

However, the administration has recently reversed its course on the idea. NBC News reported that there was a growing recognition within the administration that it just was not working. The report, in part, points to the concern of the cost of the operation. This comes as a major issue as the Trump administration works to slash spending throughout the government.

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The Wall Street Journal reported that the operation has so far cost at least $16 million, according to lawmakers who recently toured the naval base. On February 25 of last week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was on hand at Guantánamo when a military C-130 carrying nine immigrants landed at the base. The Defense Department calculates the cost per flight hour to operate a C-130 at $20,756, so for a trip of five to six hours, it costs the Pentagon $207,000 to $249,000 round trip, or $23,000 to $27,000 per detainee.

Two U.S. defense officials and a congressional representative told CBS News that the administration’s stance on using Guantánamo to house thousands of immigrants has evolved, although Trump remains committed to the plan. According to the officials, it has become evident since the announcement that alternative options, such as detaining migrants at Fort Bliss, Texas, and other U.S. military bases, would be more cost-effective and practical. They suggested that a pared-down version of Trump’s original Guantánamo proposal is now the most likely scenario.

Mexico’s government sent a diplomatic note to the United States seeking to prevent Mexicans from being sent to the naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to a statement from President Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday.

Mexico also requested that all its nationals deported from the United States be sent to Mexico and not to other countries, Sheinbaum during the press conference. “No Mexican should be sent to any other place but Mexico,” Sheinbaum said.