Hundreds from Army, Navy, Marine Corps Surge to Guantanamo Bay for Migrant Detention Operation

The number of troops deployed to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, under President Donald Trump's order to turn the Navy base into a detention camp for migrants arrested in the U.S. has nearly tripled to about 900 in little more than a week, according to a defense official on Thursday.

Military officials told lawmakers on Thursday there were approximately 68 migrants detained at Guantanamo Bay. Troops are being deployed to Guantanamo Bay in anticipation of holding 30,000 migrants there.

The surge in troops is the latest move in the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration, including efforts to stop migrants from crossing the southern border and deportation of those enforcement officials said are in the U.S. illegally. But sending migrants to Guantanamo made notorious for holding 9/11 terrorism suspects for decades has triggered a lawsuit and raised questions over the legality of the move, as well as the rights and vetting of people detained there.

The defense official, who asked for anonymity to provide information on troop movements to Military.com, said as of Thursday the 900 troops deployed to the island base include 334 Marines from 6th Marine Regiment out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina; 216 members of the National Guard; 160 Navy personnel; 116 service members assigned to Joint Task Force-Southern Guard; and 30 personnel from U.S. Southern Command.

Also, 79 personnel are from the Homeland Security Task Force-Southeast, a Department of Homeland Security element that includes members of the U.S. Coast Guard, the official said.

Military.com reported 10 days ago that 310 troops were deployed to Guantanamo Bay, mostly made up of Marines and U.S. Southern Command personnel.

They were joined over the last week by personnel from a Naval Mobile Construction Battalion, which specializes in construction and facility building, and 113 personnel came from the USS St. Louis, a littoral combat ship.

The Army also provided 216 personnel from two National Guard units, the 28th and 508th Military Police companies, which specialize in law enforcement duties.

Military.com previously reported that initial troops deployed to Guantanamo Bay were charged with setting up tents, cots "and other holding area logistics," according to U.S. Southern Command. When asked whether Marines deployed to the facility would be participating in law enforcement or migrant detention duties, a spokesperson said that DHS "is the lead federal agency responsible for irregular migration operations at Naval Station Guantanamo."

However, The New York Times reported Wednesday that some migrants sent to Guantanamo Bay were being guarded by service members instead of civilian law enforcement, citing multiple unnamed sources familiar with the operation.

U.S. Southern Command referred questions about troops potentially guarding detainees to the Pentagon, which did not respond by press time.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/02/13/number-of-troops-guantanamo-bay-swells-base-prepares-hold-30000-migrants.html

Biden’s NATO promise to Ukraine provoked conflict – Trump

US President Donald Trump has blamed the conflict on his predecessor Joe Biden’s support for Ukraine’s bid to join the bloc

“I don’t see any way that a country in Russia’s position could allow them, just in their position, could allow them to join NATO. I don’t see that happening,” the US president said on Thursday.

“And long before President [Vladimir] Putin, Russia was very strong on the fact. I believe that’s the reason the war started, because Biden went out and said that they could join NATO, and he shouldn’t have said that,” Trump asserted.

Trump also stood by the remarks on the prospects of Ukraine’s NATO membership delivered by his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, on Wednesday, describing them as “pretty accurate.”

Speaking ahead of the meeting of the so-called Ukraine Defense Contact Group, Hegseth ruled out Kiev’s accession to the bloc as a part of any peace deal, and also dismissed the idea of deploying US troops to the country.

“The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement,” Hegseth stated.

The defense secretary, however, has already somewhat backtracked on his statements, stating that it was ultimately up to Trump to decide on the matter. Speaking to the media on Thursday evening, Hegseth said he was “not going to stand at this podium and declare what President Trump will do or won’t do, what will be in or what will be out, what concessions will be made or what concessions are not made.” Nevertheless, he described his assessment of Kiev’s NATO prospects as “what’s likely” and a recognition of “hard-power realities on the ground.”

https://www.rt.com/news/612679-bidens-nato-promise-ukraine-conflict/

'The Deep State' Dies In Daylight: A Public Role In Ending Systemic Government Abuses

Trump is urged to establish a presidential commission to investigate government abuse, ensuring transparency and accountability in federal agencies.

In a January 30 appearance with Elizabeth MacDonald on Fox Business’s The Evening Edit, American Majority CEO Ned Ryun, author of the best-selling American Leviathan: The Birth of the Administrative State and Progressive Authoritarianism, advanced a singular proposition for President Trump to utilize an often neglected tool in the executive branch’s workshop for dismantling the “Deep State”: presidential commissions.

Succinctly, the chief executive establishes presidential commissions to address an issue and report directly back to them for prospective further action. The president determines the commission’s scope; appoints its leadership and membership; establishes its charge, functions, and powers; its funding and other administrative support from the executive branch; and sets a deadline for its termination. (See Mr. Biden’s presidential commission on expanding—i.e. packing—the Supreme Court.)

Per Mr. Ryun, there needs to be a presidential commission composed wholly of members of the public to investigate abuses of power and all instances of the weaponization of government by those who were—and perhaps still are—entrusted with the police and surveillance powers of the state.

“I think it is time for President Trump to appoint a special presidential commission, in which he appoints all the members of that commission; gives them full investigative and subpoena powers; and has that commission report directly to him. And then when Pam Bondi, Kash Patel, Tulsi Gabbards, and John Ratcliffe are confirmed, have all of them come before the commission; [and] have those hearings be public.”

Mr. Ryun then went further, explaining what should be done with the presidential commission’s findings:

“[The presidential commission] should do a final report with recommendations, including stripping even more people of security clearances, prosecutions, [proposing] legislative reforms from Congress. It’s time to pull back and have radical transparency and accountability for these institutions that have been massively abused over the last nine years.”

Some may argue that the presidential commission is merely repeating much of the oversight work performed by Congress over the last few years. This overlooks two important factors.

First, the Biden administration was, shall we say, less than cooperative and forthcoming in responding to Congressional oversight requests, especially from the Republican-led House. There is likely a lot left on and, more importantly, under the table for a public commission to unearth and investigate. Given the diminished, though still extant, bipartisan opposition to reforming the administrative state, President Trump is best served by establishing his commission rather than wholly relying upon Congress to do it.

Secondly, as Mr. Ryun stresses, these abuses of power were falsely deemed justified as being done in the defense of the very public whose trust they violated:

“If President Trump were to do this, he should announce: ‘I’m doing this for the American people. This abuse has been done in the name of the American people, they have funded it; and the American people deserve to know the whole truth about what’s happened the last nine years with the FBI, the DOJ, and our intel community.’”

https://amgreatness.com/2025/02/08/the-deep-state-dies-in-daylight-a-public-role-in-ending-systemic-government-abuses/

Three Top Federal Prosecutors Rage-Quit After DOJ Drops Case Against NY Mayor

New York's top federal prosecutor and two senior federal prosecutors in Washington DC have resigned after refusing to follow a DOJ order to drop corruption charges against NYC Mayor Eric Adams, NBC News reports, citing 'multiple officials.'

The resignations of Danielle R. Sassoon, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, John Keller, the acting head of the Public Integrity Section, and Kevin Driscoll, the acting head of the department's criminal division, came three days after acting US deputy AG Emil Bove issued a memo ordering federal prosecutors in New York to drop the case against Adams because, in part, it hampered his ability to combat "illegal immigration and violent crime."

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/three-top-federal-prosecutors-rage-quit-after-doj-drops-case-against-ny-mayor