¡Cesen Deportación!
Design: Rupert García
Printer: Jesus Barraza
Silkscreen, 2011 reprint of 1973 original
Oakland, CA
39963
Four days ago—February 3rd—the Trump administration announced that they officially began flying detained migrants from the U.S. to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Since 2002, “roughly 780 detainees have been held at Guantánamo Bay … As of January 6th, 2025, there were 15 detainees remaining.” Trump also directed the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security to prepare for 30,000 detainees to be held at Guantanamo Bay. To date, a dozen migrants have been moved to Guantánamo.
Originally organized as a naval base in the wake of the 1898 Spanish-American War, the southeastern end of Cuba has been occupied by the U.S for more than a century.
Despite a 1903 Permanent Treaty, the Cuban government continues to denounce the lease to the U.S. on the grounds that Article 52 of the 1969 Vienna Convention of the United Nations, which states “that a treaty is void if it was procured by the threat or use of force in violation of the principles of international law.”
Trump's plan to make Guantánamo Bay a deportation camp for detained migrants has already faced several financial, political, logistical, and legal hurdles, with potential litigation expected in the coming months. Many immigration attorneys consider these deportations illegal since migrants are entitled to some benefits of U.S. immigration law, including policies which govern where they can be deported to. Other immigration experts argue that the U.S. can legally send migrants to Guantánamo Bay on a short-term basis, since a deportation is not official until the U.S. has relinquished custody of a migrant.
Since the early 2000s as a result of George W. Bush's “war on terror," the U.S. has used Guantánamo Bay as a torture base for militant combatants captured in Afghanistan and Iraq. Congress has twice prevented both Obama and Biden administrations from closing the prison completely.
The United States cannot hold people indefinitely without due process. Close Guantánamo Bay! End unlawful deportations! Stop family separations!
Sources:
Comments