President Donald Trump spent an estimated $73 million on a spectacular piece of “political theater” that has so far turned out to be a complete flop.
The president announced, within only eight days of retaking the White House last January, he’d be turning Guantánamo Bay into a deportation processing center, which would hold up to 30,000 migrants targeted in his nationwide immigration crackdown.
More than a year later, the site is basically empty, according to a Wednesday report by CBS News. The outlet found that as of May 11, the military base is currently housing only six migrants, with just 832 transferred to the site since Trump made his pledge.
That would not appear to be for want of resources either. The administration has dispatched government employees in droves, so that they apparently now outnumber detainees by around 100 to one.
Internal federal documents obtained by CBS also show that if Trump did succeed in sending 30,000 migrants to the site tomorrow, they’d be crammed roughly 75-to-a-bed because his administration has only sent over around 400 cots.
Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has reviewed the $73 million projected cost of the initiative, told CBS the project is only the latest sign of how Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have proven hellbent on “wasting billions in taxpayer funds on a cruel immigration agenda.”
Other critics were similarly scathing. Lee Gelernt, a civil liberties lawyer who has sued over the legality of detaining migrants at the site, said “the use of Guantanamo is nothing more than political theater like so many other administration policies.”
“Not only is the Trump administration’s use of Guantanamo unprecedented and illegal, but it serves no legitimate policy goal given the financial and logistical burdens of using this notorious military base for immigration purposes.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and DOD for comment on this story.
