Families of illegal immigrants who were moved to Guantánamo Bay said in a new lawsuit Wednesday that they only found out about their relatives' fate when the government shared photos of detainees being moved to the base in Cuba.
The legal action, from three relatives of immigrants and four nonprofits including the American Civil Liberties Union, accuses the U.S. Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and State, and their respective Secretaries of denying detainees their legal rights to counsel, as well as contact with their chosen contacts.
A spokesperson for DHS told Newsweek that detainees can access their legal counsel.
"There is a system for phone utilization to reach lawyers. 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 spokesperson said.
Newsweek also reached out to the DOD and State Department for comment via email Wednesday afternoon.
Why It Matters
President Donald Trump announced in late January that his administration would be expanding detention capacity at the military base to hold more illegal immigrants held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as part of his policies to drive up deportations and have more immigrant criminals in custody rather than on the streets.
An AP-NORC poll, conducted from January 9 to 13 among 1,147 adults, found that 83 percent of Americans support deporting migrants living in the U.S. illegally who have been convicted of a violent crime, while only 6 percent would oppose doing so.
What To Know
The first flights headed to Guantánamo Bay left the U.S. mainland last week, with the Trump administration showing photos of some detainees boarding planes to the center, which is set to house 30,000 individuals once fully operational.
According to the lawsuit filed Wednesday, this was the first time some relatives had heard about what was happening to their loved ones. Plaintiff Eucaris Carolina Gomez Lugo, who is Venezuelan, was one of them.
"She immediately recognized her brother Tilso in one of the photographs and became alarmed that the U.S. government had moved and detained him at Guantánamo," the complaint read. "Since February 5, 2025, after Ms. Gomez Lugo retained undersigned counsel on behalf of her brother, counsel has made multiple unsuccessful attempts to contact Mr. Gomez Lugo."
Lugo is not alone, the suit alleges, with the sister of another Venezuelan immigrant also spotting photos of her brother in photos shared online. The mother of another detainee was not informed by authorities about her son's move, but by a fellow inmate in the facility he was held in in Texas.
The groups included in the lawsuit—Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), American Gateways, and Americans for Immigrant Justice—allege that the federal government has provided no information on where the detainees are, how long they will be held at Guantánamo, and whether they will be provided with any access to legal counsel or communication with their families.
According to a press release from the groups, Wednesday's action follows a letter sent to the federal government last week raising concerns, which received no response.
On Sunday, a federal court stopped the Trump administration from sending three other Venezuelan nationals to the new facility, in the latest of a number of legal challenges to the White House's immigration policies.
The Trump administration, including Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, has stated that the facility will be used to house the "worst" immigrant criminals, but CBS News reported Wednesday that some low-risk ICE detainees had also been moved there.
Noem told CNN on Sunday that the administration was working to determine who would be eligible to be moved to Guantánamo, as ICE was struggling to house all the individuals required under law in the detention facilities it manages within the U.S. She also said that some individuals could be held indefinitely, pending their final removal from the U.S.
Advocacy groups have raised concerns about the use of Guantánamo as a site for immigration detention expansion. The site is most known for its use as a United States military prison. The U.S. has leased the land from Cuba since 1903 under an agreement that the Cuban government disputes and opposes.
The detention camp has long been associated with the detention of terrorism suspects including 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. However, it also houses a separate Migrant Operations Center, which has historically been used to hold migrants intercepted at sea, primarily from Haiti and Cuba.
What People Are Saying
Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project, in a press release: "By hurrying immigrants off to a remote island cut off from lawyers, family, and the rest of the world, the Trump administration is sending its clearest signal yet that the rule of law means nothing to it. It will now be up to the courts to ensure that immigrants cannot be warehoused on offshore islands."
Paul Chavez, litigation director at Americans for Immigrant Justice, in a press release: "The dramatic expansion of immigrant detention at Guantánamo and act of transferring immigrants from detention within the borders of the United States to Guantánamo will cause irreparable harm to our immigrant community and create barriers that conflict with Americans for Immigrant Justice's core organizational objectives."
Noem, speaking to CNN's Dana Bash: "The President committed during the campaign that he believed we needed to have mass deportation. We're going after those that have been the violent criminals perpetuating crimes in our communities, also those with final removal orders, and then we'll continue down the priority list."
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, speaking to reporters: "It's the perfect place to provide for migrants who are traveling out of our country through gray tails or other assets, but also hardened criminals. Where are you going to put Tren de Aragua before you send them all the way back? How about a maximum security prison at Guantanamo Bay, where we have the space."
What's Next
The case was filed with the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, but for now, flights with ICE detainees on board are expected to continue to be sent to the base.
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About the writer
Dan Gooding is a Newsweek reporter based in New York City. His focus is reporting on immigration and border security. ... Read more