(Washington DC) – The United States should immediately halt the transfer of immigrant detainees to the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, where they face abusive and inhumane detention conditions that may amount to ill-treatment, Human Rights Watch said today.
Human Rights Watch interviewed 20 Venezuelan immigrants who were transferred there in early February and detained for between 11 and 16 days before being deported to Venezuela. The people interviewed said that US officials never informed them they would be taken to Guantánamo, nor were their families notified. Most said that they were held incommunicado in unsanitary conditions and denied access to information about their legal status or possible future.
“The US government has taken immigrants to Guantánamo and subjected them to incommunicado detention in appalling conditions,” said Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “No immigrant or asylum seeker who leaves their country in search of protection should be taken to a place like this.”
Some detainees said they attempted suicide. “I was so desperate that I tried to cut my wrists with the edges of plastic water bottles, but they weren’t sharp enough,” one said. “The second time, I tried to bite my tongue and hit my head against the wall, but it didn’t work.”
The US government should not transfer any immigrants from the US to Guantánamo, Human Rights Watch said. Any who are detained there should be guaranteed due process in the US and a meaningful opportunity to challenge their removal.
Most of the people deported said that US immigration authorities detained them after they crossed the southern border, accusing them of belonging to the Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan criminal group, based solely on their tattoos and nationality. Others said they had been living in the US for several months and were detained after attending scheduled appointments with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). All of them had spent days or months in immigration detention centers in Texas before being transferred to Guantánamo.
A 30-year-old man said he had gone to a scheduled appointment with Customs and Border Protection at an ICE facility in El Paso, Texas, on January 19 to apply for asylum. However, when an immigration official saw his tattoos and learned his nationality, the officer accused him of belonging to Tren de Aragua and sent him to detention. On February 4 he was shackled and placed on a plane with other Venezuelans. “After the plane landed, I saw lots of barbed wire and fences,” he said. “One immigration official said to me, ‘Welcome to Guantánamo.’ I was in shock.”
Most of the people interviewed said that once in Guantánamo, they were placed in a high-security detention unit known as Camp 6, where they were held in solitary confinement in individual cells measuring approximately two by three meters, with concrete and steel walls, a single concrete bed, and a combination sink-toilet. They said guards provided only a sheet and a pillow. Only a few reported receiving a mattress; and most said they slept on the concrete bed for most of their time in detention.
“The worst part was the confinement, isolated, not knowing what would happen to us,” said a 35-year-old man.
The people interviewed said that guards kept them isolated in their cells for up to 23 hours a day and only allowed them out for about one hour or less – not every day – into a fenced recreation yard, where they were warned not to speak with others.
“We weren’t allowed to talk, so at night we shouted through the cracks in the doors to let each other know we were still alive,” a 30-year-old deportee said.
Some deportees said they had protested because the authorities denied them information about their legal situation and told them nothing about what might happen to them. “One day, I was so desperate that I started banging on the door and shouting that I wanted to speak to my family,” said a 25-year-old barber. “Two guards came in, handcuffed me behind my back, shackled my feet, and tied me to a chair in another cell, facing the wall, where they left me for hours.”
In Camp 6, as well as in another building where some people said they were held in small rooms, they described unsanitary conditions, lack of hygiene, and deteriorating infrastructure. They said there were no windows or natural light, which caused them to lose all sense of time. Most said they only had access to showers every three days, for just a few minutes, and were taken out of their cells or rooms in shackles.
A 38-year-old construction worker said that his cell was filthy and smelled strongly of sewage. “The water was yellow, parts of the sink were rusty, the ceiling and walls were damp, and there were insects and cobwebs everywhere” he said. “It was completely filthy, and I got sick because of it.”
All of those interviewed said that although they received three meals a day, the food was insufficient and of poor quality. A 33-year-old deportee said meals were passed through a small slot in the door and often consisted of undercooked or spoiled rice and beans. “I was hungry all the time, and my stomach hurt,” he said. “I arrived there weighing 78 kilos and returned to Venezuela weighing 52.”
Eight people interviewed said that they became ill due to unsanitary conditions, and that officers then denied them medical care. Some said that when they asked for medical assistance, guards only offered or gave them sleeping pills.
On February 20, the Trump administration transferred 177 Venezuelan nationals detained in Guantánamo to Honduras, where they were received by a Venezuelan government aircraft and returned to their country of origin. Among them were the individuals interviewed by Human Rights Watch. Upon arrival in Venezuela, they reported receiving temporary medical care, shelter, and food for three days while authorities conducted background checks and issued identification documents. Government officials subsequently transported them to their homes, where they are currently residing with their families and attempting to reintegrate into their communities.
International human rights law prohibits arbitrary detention, torture, and other ill- treatment.
None of the people interviewed reported being physically assaulted by Guantánamo security personnel. However, the inhumane detention conditions, solitary confinement – and in some cases, prolonged solitary confinement – combined with the denial of information, and uncertainty about their legal situation and future, may amount to ill-treatment prohibited under international law.
“Everyone in immigration detention should be treated with basic humanity, which includes the right to meaningful human contact,” Goebertus said. “This isn’t a privilege. It’s a fundamental right.”