Trump said Guantanamo would hold ‘high threat’ migrants — but others have ended up there

Early this month, as part of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration, the first flight carrying “high threat” migrants landed at Guantanamo Bay, home of the notorious U.S. prison camp that administration officials said would house the most violent “worst of the worst” migrants apprehended on American soil.

ABC News, however, has spoken with the families of two migrants who say they’re being held there despite having no criminal record.

“President Donald Trump has been very clear: Guantanamo Bay will hold the worst of the worst. That starts today,” said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after releasing photos of the migrants boarding a C-17 military plane in Texas on Feb 4.

The move followed an executive order by Trump directing the secretaries of the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security to “expand the Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to full capacity” for “high-priority criminal aliens unlawfully present in the United States.”

“There’s a lot of space to accommodate a lot of people,” Trump said in the Oval Office last month when he signed the order. “So we’re going to use it.”

But in the weeks that have followed, as more migrants have been sent to Guantanamo, immigrant advocacy groups and some relatives of those detained claim the administration has provided no evidence that those detained are “high-threat” — and that people are being sent to the military base without access to legal counsel or the ability to communicate with relatives.

“It’s troubling enough that we are even sending immigrants from the U.S. to Guantanamo, but it’s beyond the pale that we are holding them incommunicado, without access to attorneys, family or the outside world,” said Lee Gelernt, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union.

A federal lawsuit, filed in Washington, D.C., last week and backed by the ACLU, says this is the first time in U.S. history that the government has detained noncitizens on civil immigration charges at the U.S. naval base in Cuba.

A DHS spokesperson told ABC News last week that in addition to holding violent gang members and other “high-threat” migrants, the military is also holding other undocumented migrants with final deportation orders.

An ABC News review of 53 Guantanamo detainees whose names were published by The New York Times found federal cases associated with 14 of the names. That number does not account for possible variations in spelling, nor does it include any possible state cases.

According to federal court records, among those cases, one individual was charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding an officer during a riot at a detention center. Another was charged for allegedly being involved in an “illegal alien smuggling scheme,” and one was charged with “intentionally conspiring to transport” undocumented people in Texas.

In the other federal cases ABC News found, the individuals were charged for entry or illegal reentry into the U.S., a criminal offense.

ABC News spoke with the families of two migrants who are in Guantanamo, who claimed their detained relatives do not have ties to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua or other criminal groups as authorities have alleged.

A senior DHS official told ABC News the two migrants are members of Tren De Aragua, but did not elaborate or offer any details.

“There is a system for phone utilization to reach lawyers,” added the official. “If the AMERICAN Civil Liberties Union cares more about highly dangerous criminal aliens including murderers & vicious gang members than they do about American citizens — they should change their name.”

The family members said they believe their relatives were unfairly targeted because of their tattoos.

“He told us he was being targeted because of his tattoos … he was accused of being part of Tren de Aragua, but that is not true,” said Barbara Simancas, the sister of Jose Rodriguez Simancas who is reportedly one of the migrants in Guantanamo. “His tattoos have nothing to do with that … they are of his children’s names.”

Barbara Simancas told ABC News that her brother last spoke to a relative on Feb. 4 to let them know he was being transferred to the military base in Cuba the next day. She said her brother surrendered to authorities after crossing the southern border last year and claiming asylum, and that he was placed in a detention center in El Paso, Texas.

Barbara Simancas maintains her brother does not have a criminal record and provided to ABC News a criminal background check from Venezuela.

Rodriguez Simancas was charged with “improper entry” into the U.S. in May 2024. Court records obtained by ABC News noted that he has “no criminal history” other than the improper entry to which he pleaded guilty.

Barbara Simancas said she has not been able to get in touch with ICE or DHS since her brother was sent to Guantanamo.

“I just ask the government to send him back to Venezuela,” Simancas said. “His kids are worried. They want to see their dad.”

ABC News also spoke with Jhoan Lee Bastidas, the father of Jhoan Lee Bastidas Paz, who is being held at Guantanamo Bay. He was charged with “improper entry” into the U.S. in November 2023 and pleaded guilty. Court records also indicate he has “no criminal history” besides that charge.

Lee Bastidas told ABC News he found out about his son’s detention when his other son saw a photo on social media of Bastidas Paz on a military flight to Guantanamo.

“When I saw the photo of him, I said ‘Oh my God,'” said Lee Bastidas, who told ABC News that his son’s name was also in the list of Guantanamo detainees published by the Times.

“We’re thinking the worst things because on social media, they say Guantanamo is the worst … that it’s where they house the terrorists,” Lee Bastidas said. “I am tormented.”

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