Two months after President Donald Trump ordered his administration to prepare the US naval base at Guantánamo Bay to detain up to 30,000 migrants, fewer than 400 have actually been held there—yet the operation has already cost American taxpayers more than $40 million. Despite the scale of the directive, the base remains vastly underutilised, with many facilities unused and staffing levels disproportionately high relative to the number of detainees, the New York Times reported.
High staffing levels for small detainee numbers
The most striking example of this mismatch is the group of 178 Venezuelan migrants held at the base in February, the largest cohort to date. That operation required a staff of 1,000 people—900 of them US military personnel and the rest a mix of immigration officers and contractors. This translated into a 5:1 ratio of staff to migrants, raising serious questions about efficiency and resource allocation.
Maximum capacity capped at 180
Currently, only 45 migrants remain in detention at the facility, with 36 housed in Camp 6, the former high-security prison that once held suspected Al Qaeda members. The remainder are kept at a dormitory-style site known as the Migrant Operations Center. Both are highly secure but only capable of holding a maximum of 180 individuals. Admiral Alvin Holsey, head of the US Southern Command, testified before Congress that significantly increasing capacity to meet the 30,000 figure would require deploying more than 9,000 additional service members—an order the Pentagon has not received.
Administration’s justification: limited ICE capacity
The administration has justified the use of Guantánamo by citing limited capacity within the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration detention system. Robert G. Salesses, a senior Pentagon official, said ICE can house around 45,000 “high-threat illegal aliens,” and when that capacity is exceeded, DHS turns to the Defense Department for backup space. Salesses indicated that the Guantánamo operation would continue until ICE facilities are expanded.
Tents erected but never used
Significant portions of the newly built infrastructure have never been used. Within days of Trump’s executive order, troops erected 195 large tents meant to accommodate detainees. But those tents remain empty due to security concerns and questions about their structural integrity during hurricane season. Despite never being used, the tents accounted for over $3 million of the overall $40 million spent by March 12. Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, criticized the tents as “more political drama than practical necessity.”
Most migrants deported directly from the base
Most migrants held at Guantánamo have been deported directly to countries such as Venezuela, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Brazil, and Colombia. For example, ICE recently flew 44 Nicaraguans from the base to Managua on a charter flight that had originated in Louisiana.
Fewer than half of the migrants processed at Guantánamo have been returned to the United States.
Rising scrutiny over cost and purpose
While the Trump administration frames this as a necessary response to rising migration and limited detention capacity, critics argue the effort reflects an expensive and inefficient political stunt. With high costs, minimal detainee numbers, and vast unused infrastructure, the Guantánamo operation is drawing growing scrutiny in Washington.
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