NEW: ACLU Forms New Attack To Derail The Trump Administration

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a landmark lawsuit against the U.S. government Wednesday, challenging the transfer of immigrants from U.S. detention facilities to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The move by the Trump administration marks the first time noncitizens apprehended on U.S. soil have been detained at the military base, known for housing terror suspects.

The ACLU’s legal action seeks to ensure the detained immigrants’ constitutional rights, including access to counsel, are upheld. The lawsuit comes in response to reports that, since February 4, the U.S. government has flown over 50 immigrant detainees from Texas to Guantánamo, with plans to send many more.

The ACLU claims these detainees are being held incommunicado, with no access to attorneys, family members, or the outside world. Legal organizations, including the ACLU, Las Americas, and RAICES, are seeking an injunction to grant these individuals access to legal counsel and basic communication rights.

They argue that the U.S. government’s actions violate constitutional protections, including the First, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments, and the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

The ACLU’s legal petition argues that these detentions are unlawful and aim to prevent detainees from exercising their right to challenge their detention. The plaintiffs are also seeking to expose the government’s plans for further detentions at Guantánamo, which could include as many as 30,000 individuals.

The ACLU and its partners are calling on the federal court to immediately intervene and require the U.S. government to allow access to counsel and clarify the detentions’ legal standing.

“Taking immigrants from the United States and detaining them incommunicado at Guantanamo must be condemned by everyone who believes in the rule of law,” Lee Gelernt, an ACLU lawyer and lead counsel in the case, claimed. “This is a shocking step even for this administration.”

A federal court on Sunday halted the Trump administration’s plan to transfer three Venezuelan immigrants detained in New Mexico to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba as part of the president’s immigration enforcement efforts.

In January, President Trump directed the expansion of the Guantanamo Migrant Operations Center (GMOC) at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to accommodate up to 30,000 migrants. This facility, separate from the high-security military prison known for holding terrorism suspects, is intended to detain “high-priority criminal aliens” unlawfully present in the United States.

The first group of detainees, described as “highly dangerous,” was transferred to Guantanamo Bay on February 4. These individuals were reportedly members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

“Trump is not messing around,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said earlier this month. “El Salvador has not just agreed to the repatriation of their own citizens, but also illegal criminals from other nations who will then be sent to their prisons.”

“Venezuela as well has agreed to repatriation flights, and Colombia also agreed to cooperate with the repatriation of illegal Colombian nationals that we have found in the interior of our country. I can also confirm that today, the first flights from the United States to Guantanamo Bay with illegal migrants are underway,” she explained.