"Eight years ago, when I wrote a book on the first days of Guantanamo, The Least Worst Place: Guantánamo's First 100 Days, I assumed that Gitmo would prove a grim anomaly in our history," remarks Carol Rosenberg. "Today, it seems as if that 'detention facility' will have a far longer life than I ever imagined and that it, and everything it represents, will become a true, if grim, legacy of twenty-first-century America."
Some observers speculate that the base will also provide space for the surge of undocumented migrants deported from the United States since Donald Trump took office. The half-billion dollar Pentagon budget for new construction at Guantanamo includes $100 million for a 13,000 migrant tent city. Spokesmen for the Navy, Southcom and the Department of Homeland Security are reticent to reveal its purpose, although DHS spokesman David Lapan says Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "does not have any plans to use this facility for any new/additional detention."
At this time, the Navy is accepting site bids to build a skeletal structure for kitchen areas, dumpsters and a headquarters building. A public-address system has been proposed. The facility is expected to have a "minimum life of 50 years."
To our collective dismay, the extralegal terrorism policies of the Bush administration have found a second life in the Trump era. We must find the courage and conviction to end this nightmare. On November 4 we take to the streets to drive the Trump/Pence regime from power.
