Trump Is Building A Global Gulag For Immigrants Captured By ICE

The U.S. is in talks with 19 nations, including Libya, Kosovo, Rwanda, and Moldova, to accept deportees from other countries.

By Nick Turse and Jonah Valdez, The Intercept

The Trump Administration appears to be laying the groundwork for a global gulag for expelled immigrants.

In addition to using longtime U.S. detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, the Trump administration is seeking more far-flung locales to hold deported people, regardless of their countries of origin.

The U.S. is already using the notorious Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, in Tecoluca, El Salvador, and has its sights set on numerous other countries, including many that the State Department has excoriated for human rights abuses. The U.S. has reportedly explored, sought, or struck deals with at least 19 countries: Angola, Benin, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Eswatini, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Kosovo, Libya, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Panama, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

“These are the plans of an authoritarian regime. They want to spend likely billions of taxpayer dollars to send asylum-seekers into war zones or to countries rife with human rights abuses,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told The Intercept.

Kristi Noem stands in front of a prison population in El Salvador

“It’s truly alarming that this administration doesn’t view people fleeing persecution or torture as human and that the United States government is even discussing this obviously illegal proposal. It’s deeply un-American, will make all Americans less safe, and will, without a doubt, result in the loss of human life,” Murphy said.

The State Department refused to provide a complete list of countries with which the U.S. has made agreements to accept deportees from other countries — often referred to as third-country nationals — citing the sensitivity of diplomatic communications. But the Trump administration is planning a major increase in deportation flights in coming weeks to destinations across the globe, according to a government official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, as well as published reports.