Washington, 30 January 2025 (dpa/MIA) - US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he is planning to sign an executive order instructing the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security to set up a migrant detention facility at Guantánamo Bay.

The facility for 30,000 people would be used to "detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people," Trump said during an event at the White House on Wednesday, without giving further details.

Some of those migrants were "so bad we don't even trust the countries to hold them because we don't want them coming back, so we're going to send them out to Guantánamo," he claimed.

The Guantánamo Bay detention camp is a US military prison within a US naval base in Cuba established by the George W Bush administration following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to hold suspected Islamist terrorists.

At one point, almost 800 people were held at the facility which has been condemned internationally for denying inmates their right to a fair legal trial as well as human rights violations.

Despite calls from human rights organizations for its closure, a small number of detainees is still being held at Guantánamo.

Trump has signed various decrees to curb migration after taking office for a second term last week.

His latest announcement came while signing a law to tighten the crackdown against certain migrant groups.

The Trump administration has also been pushing for the arrest and deportation of criminal and irregular migrants for days.

Photo: MIA archive