ADDS DETAILS THROUGHOUT
By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON (AA) - US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he is directing the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security to prepare a 30,000-person detention facility at Guantanamo Bay for undocumented migrants.
"Most people don't even know we have 30,000 beds in Guantanamo to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people. Some of them are so bad we don't even trust the countries to hold them, because we don't want them coming back," Trump said in remarks delivered from the White House.
"So, we're going to send them out to Guantanamo. This will double our capacity immediately. Right? And tough. That's a tough place to get out of," he added.
A copy of the order was not immediately available.
Guantanamo is home to an infamous military facility where prisoners have been held, and often subject to torture, for years in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the US homeland.
The Pentagon announced earlier this month, under the former administration of Joe Biden, the transfer of 11 detainees to the Gulf nation of Oman, leaving just 15 individuals at the facility.
Of those remaining, three were eligible for transfer and three others are eligible to appear before a review board. Seven are in the midst of military trial proceedings, and two have been convicted and sentenced.
Biden had promised to shutter the scandal-plagued military prison, but, like President Barack Obama before him, failed to do so during his term.