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• Thu Apr 17 2025

Migrant tents removed from Guantanamo bay, satellite images show

8 hours ago Share Save Benedict Garman & Matt Murphy BBC Verify Share Save

Kristi Noem An image posted by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem showing rows of tents at Guantanamo Bay in February.

The US has dismantled large parts of a camp built to house migrants at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, satellite images reviewed by BBC Verify show. President Donald Trump ordered the existing facility in Cuba be expanded to hold 30,000 migrants shortly after taking office in January. However, only a small number were ever actually held at the base. The Pentagon spent around $38m (?28.7m) on deportation and detention operations at Guantanamo Bay in the first month of operations this year alone, a Department of Defense official said. But new images now show that around two-thirds of the roughly 260 tents installed as part of the operation had been removed as of 16 April.

When asked about the removal of the tents, a US defence official said: "This force adjustment represents a deliberate and efficient use of resources - not a reduction in readiness." The camp began construction just a day after President Trump announced the plan, with tents going up between 30 January and 12 February. Visible construction continued until 8 March, with scattered temporary structures appearing on satellite imagery. The construction marked a significant expansion to the Guantanamo Migrant Operations Center - a facility long used to hold some migrants and distinct from the high-security military prison used to house detainees suspected by the US of terrorism offences. The photos below show a mix of around 260 green and white military tents in an area to the south-west of the overall Guantanamo Bay base on 1 April. But by 10 April many had been removed.