The American Civil Liberties Union and other human rights groups have sued the federal government for access to immigrants who have been detained at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba.
Among the suit's allegations are that the government has violated habeas corpus and the First and Fifth Amendment rights of detainees.
President Donald Trump has ordered facilities at Guantánamo Bay to be brought to full capacity to house up to 30,000 of the "worst criminal" migrants detained in the U.S. The Department of Homeland Security said the individuals transported there are members of the Tren de Aragua gang and were living in the U.S. illegally.
The ACLU and other groups last week sent a letter to members of President Trump's cabinet requesting access to detainees.
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"The Constitution, and federal and international law prohibit the government from using Guantánamo as a legal black hole. We therefore request that the government provide our organizations access to the noncitizens detained at Guantánamo so that those individuals will have access to legal counsel, and so advocates and the public can understand the conditions under which the government is detaining them."
That letter suggested that some migrants currently housed at the facility are being detained “in the same prison housing law of war detainees,” also pointing to a 2024 report from the International Refugee Assistance Project that documented “appalling conditions” at Guantánamo including a lack of potable water, mold- and rat-infested living spaces and inadequate access to medical care.
