By Camilo Montoya‑Galvez / Updated May 13, 2026
Just eight days after returning to the White House in early 2025, President Trump announced an effort to convert the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, into a detention center that could hold 30,000 people facing deportation. A year on, a review of internal government records and documents provided to Congress shows the facilities sit largely empty while the operation continues to draw significant military resources and expense.
Federal documents obtained by CBS News show that on May 11 the government was holding six immigration detainees at Guantanamo, all nationals of Haiti. Over the past year the records show 832 immigration detainees were transferred to the base on more than 100 flights, but the current population is a tiny fraction of the size promised. The documents indicate the base’s immigration detention capacity is roughly 400 beds; on May 11 fewer than 2% of those beds were occupied.
Personnel devoted to the mission now outnumber detainees by a wide margin. Figures provided to Congress say the Department of Defense has 522 personnel supporting the immigration detention effort, and internal records show about 60 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other non‑military staff are assigned as well. At the time the reporting was compiled, government employees outnumbered detainees by roughly 100 to 1.
The cost to the military is also substantial. Information delivered to Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren projects the Defense Department’s share of the effort will total about $73 million — up from earlier public estimates of roughly $40 million. Warren, who received the cost figures, accused the administration of wasting taxpayer funds on an aggressive immigration agenda. CBS News reached out to the Pentagon and DHS for comment on whether the administration plans to continue the operation; a DHS spokesperson reiterated the administration’s deterrence message: “If you come to our country illegally and break our laws, you could end up in Guantanamo Bay, CECOT, or a third country. Our message is clear: criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S.”
Public details about the operation have been limited. Early in 2025 officials began sending groups of people arrested by ICE in the U.S. to Guantanamo to be held pending deportation. The White House initially framed the plan as a way to house the “worst” and “high‑priority criminal aliens,” but reporting and internal memos show that detainees included both people with alleged criminal or gang histories and others categorized as “low‑risk,” including some without serious criminal records. An internal memo governing the effort gave officials wide discretion to decide who could be transferred to Guantanamo, including non‑criminal detainees.
Low‑risk detainees have largely been housed at the Migration Operations Center, a barrack‑style facility previously used for migrants intercepted at sea, while those deemed higher risk were placed at Camp VI, part of the post‑9/11 detention complex that still holds some terrorism suspects.
Legal challenges to the program are underway. In December a federal judge in Washington, D.C., issued a preliminary ruling finding the immigration detention effort at Guantanamo was “impermissibly punitive” and likely unlawful, though the judge did not block the operation at that time. The American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who sued called the policy “political theater,” arguing the use of Guantanamo for civil immigration detention is unprecedented and lacks legitimate policy purpose.
Former DHS officials and analysts have questioned both the legality and the effectiveness of the approach. Theresa Cardinal Brown, a former DHS immigration official who served under both Republican and Democratic administrations, said the facilities — including other controversial sites the administration has discussed — appear intended to push people to self‑deport and to deter others. She also noted the logistical realities: everything must be supplied from U.S. sources to a remote military installation, which raises costs significantly.
The use of Guantanamo to hold migrants is not entirely new; past administrations used the base at times to detain people intercepted at sea, including large numbers of Haitians during the 1990s. But the current program, and the promise of tens of thousands of beds, has proven far smaller in practice and has prompted scrutiny over expense, transparency and legality.