[8] According to legal scholar Jeffrey S. Kahn: For many of the Haitian captains, the coast of Cuba served as the key navigational reference they would use to guide them on their way to Miami.

While the town of Maisí on Cuba’s eastern tip commonly served this purpose nicely, some captains ended up further west in the protective waters of Guantánamo Bay.

"[8] As a result, the U.S. military base at Guantánamo became a default area for dealing with migrants attempting to come to United States.

[8] As early as 1978, the US Immigration and Naturalization Service had discussed plans regarding "the feasibility of having the Coast Guard transport Haitians to Guantanamo Bay.

The Haitian detainees have been subjected to pre-dawn military sweeps as they sleep by as many as 400 soldiers dressed in full riot gear.

[13] The UNHCR voiced disapproval of the US policy of forced repatriation of Haitians and suggested it was outside international refugee law in early 1995.

According to Jeffrey S. Kahn, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Davis, this system operates as follows: "if the U.S. Coast Guard stops a vessel and those aboard end up passing a 'credible fear' interview, they are taken to Guantánamo for an additional interview to determine if they have a 'well-founded fear of persecution,' ... [and if] they pass that second screening, the U.S. State Department works to resettle them in third countries, like France or Australia.

[22][1][23] When the Biden administration was asked about using the GMOC to hold migrants that were detained at the southern Border Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas stated: "Guantánamo was a place that historically has been used to return individuals who are interdicted at sea.

"[24] On 29 January 2025, President Donald Trump announced his intention to expand the GMOC to house up to 30,000 migrants under detention, separate from the high-security military prison at Guantanamo Bay, through what he claimed was an executive order:[25] "Today I'm also signing an executive order to instruct the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to begin preparing the 30,000-person migrant facility at Guantanamo Bay...Most people don't even know about it.

"[25] (what he issued was a Presidential Memorandum, rather than an executive order)[25] The memorandum titled "Expanding Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to Full Capacity" stated: I hereby direct the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security to take all appropriate actions to expand the Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to full capacity to provide additional detention space for high-priority criminal aliens unlawfully present in the United States, and to address attendant immigration enforcement needs identified by the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security.

This memorandum is issued in order to halt the border invasion, dismantle criminal cartels, and restore national sovereignty.

This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

[19][5] This decision came shortly after Trump signed the Laken Riley Act that requires "undocumented immigrants who are arrested for theft or violent crimes to be held in jail pending trial.

"[19][5] However, the executive memorandum that Trump signed did not state a specific number of migrants to be detained at the facility but did call for "additional detention space.

"[5] Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stated that Congress would allot money for the facility through "reconciliation and appropriations".

[9] Officials have stated that these migrants were "Venezuelan men with affiliations to Tren de Aragua, a gang that originated in Venezuela's prisons".

The official also said that the GMOC would continue to be used as a "staging area" for migrants pending deportation, although DHS has asked the Department of Defense to look for alternate locations to fill that role.

[28] The status of detainees as gang members was disputed by some families, who alleged non-gang-members with tattoo were targeted so they could be photographed in shackles for public relations purposes.

[25] United States Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, who had previously worked at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp as a infantry platoon leader, stated that the GMOC was "the perfect option for rounding up tens of thousands of illegal aliens and sending them back to their countries of origin with proper processing.

"[6] Members of the Cuban government also criticized the planned expansion of migrant facilities, noting the proximity to the Guantanamo Bay detention center used to imprison suspected terrorists during the War on Terror.

"[2] Deepa Alagesan, a senior supervising lawyer with the IRAP, stated that the massive increase in migrants being sent to the GMOC was "definitely a scary prospect".

[2] Vince Warren, the executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, said Trump's decision "sends a clear message: migrants and asylum seekers are being cast as the new terrorist threat, deserving to be discarded in an island prison, removed from legal and social services and supports.

"[2] Daphne Eviatar, the director at Amnesty International USA stated: "Another terrible idea, just when we were getting closer to closing the unlawful prison that’s there already...Indefinite detention without due process at Guantanamo has been a powerful recruiting tool for US enemies; it has not made anyone safer.

"[4] Anthony Scaramucci, who briefly served as the White House Director of Communications under President Trump tweeted in response to the announcement of the expansion of the detention facility: "Also known as a concentration camp.