ACLU demands access to Guantanamo immigrant detention center
The ACLU on Friday demanded attorneys be granted access to immigrants shipped to Guantanamo, saying the law forbids the government from using the prison as "a legal black hole."
The Trump administration has transferred some two dozen immigrant detainees to the U.S. Naval base in Cuba since announcing in January it would use the prison – which once held accused Al Qaeda terrorists – as an immigration detention center.
President Donald Trump ordered his administration to prepare the facility to hold as many as 30,000 immigrant detainees.
"If they were on U.S. soil, they would have the right to retain counsel," said Lee Gelernt, an ACLU attorney who argued high profile cases against the first Trump administration, including family separation. "The government cannot simply fly them to Guantanamo and wipe away their rights."
The letter is addressed to the administration's secretaries of Defense, Homeland Security and State and asks that attorneys be granted "confidential, unmonitored phone calls" with each person detained at the prison. The attorneys are also seeking approval for in-person visits.
DoD, DHS and the State Department didn't immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment.
“President Donald Trump has been very clear: Guantanamo Bay will hold the worst of the worst," DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a press release announcing the first flight to the prison.
Immigration attorneys and advocates have often complained that immigrant detainees lack sufficient access to legal counsel. Many U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers are in hard-to-reach rural areas, where few attorneys practice.
"Even on U.S. soil ICE has been trying to make it difficult for advocates to get in touch with immigration detainees," Gelernt said. "But this is a maneuver that is 100 times more extreme, moving them to the notorious Guantanamo prison."
Lauren Villagran can be reached at lvillagran@usatoday.com
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ACLU demands attorneys for immigrants at Guantanamo