A US civil rights group on Saturday sued to block the Trump administration from potentially transferring 10 migrants from the US to a naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detailing harsh conditions and suicide attempts among migrants held there.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which filed the lawsuit in federal court in Washington, DC, said the transfers violated US immigration law by moving the detainees outside of the country and aimed to stoke fear without a legitimate rationale.
The 10 detainees in the lawsuit are from Venezuela, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan with final deportation orders, including some who had been threatened with transfer to Guantanamo, ACLU said. The men, currently held in Texas, Arizona and Virginia, are not gang members or high-risk criminals.
President Donald Trump has vowed to deport record numbers of immigrants who are in the US illegally. US Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin called the ACLU legal challenge "baseless" and said the agency would work with the Justice Department to fight the lawsuit.
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