Where Is Guantanamo Bay & What’s the History Behind It?
GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA - JUNE 25: (EDITORS NOTE: Image has been reviewed by the U.S. Military prior to transmission.) A military officer walks from the entrance to Camp VI at the U.S. military prison for 'enemy combatants' on June 25, 2013 in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. President Barack Obama has recently spoken again about closing the prison which has been used to hold prisoners from the invasion of Afghanistan and the war on terror since early 2002. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
With news that the Trump Administration is sending its first military flight carrying migrants to Guantanamo Bay, the questions about where exactly the US Naval base is and the history behind it have started swirling. The name, which is widely associated with the torture and indefinite detention without a trial of prisoners, is now set to be used as a detention camp for migrants.
“It’s the perfect place to provide for migrants who are traveling out of our country … but also hardened criminals,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday (February 3). But the legalities of holding migrants there are questionable, at best. This all comes after comments from President Donald Trump about another executive order he intended to sign to prepare Guantanamo Bay.
Guantanamo Bay is a US naval base located in the southeastern end of Cuba. The United States has leased a 45-square-mile piece of land and water since 1903 when the new Cuban government signed an agreement with then-U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. Subsequent attempts to renegotiate the agreement have only resulted in a stipulation that the land would revert to Cuba by mutual agreement. This mutual agreement has never been reached.
In the 90s, at the worst of the crisis in Cuba, with migrants attempting to reach the U.S. by sea, Guantanamo Bay was used to hold refugees while their asylum applications were reviewed. By 2002, however, the base started to be used to hold suspects the U.S. captured during the so-called “war on terror.” It was after this that Guantanamo Bay got its reputation as an “island outside of the law” where terrorism suspects were detained without process and interrogated — in many cases outright tortured in the name of interrogation.
As of January 2025, only 15 detainees remained at Guantanamo Bay US Naval base. At least nine men have died in the camp that the Trump Administration now intends to use as a holding point for migrants. The Administration has given no details as to how long migrants will be in Guantanamo Bay or what their legal basis for holding people in another country is.