Ossoff Leads Opposition to Detention of Migrants at Guantanamo Bay
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is leading opposition to the detention of migrants at Guantanamo Bay.
Today, Sen. Ossoff led a group of Senators in a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth opposing the mass detention of migrants at Guantanamo Bay, which they warn poses risks to human rights and risks long-term damage to military readiness.
Sen. Ossoff is joined by Senators Chris Coons (D-DE), Brian Schatz (D-HI), and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD).
“We oppose placing U.S. military and DoD civilian personnel in the legally and morally tenuous position of conducting mass migrant detention operations. Our men and women in uniform are warfighters, not jailers of migrants,” Sen. Ossoff and the group wrote. “The dramatically expanded use of U.S. military personnel and facilities to support mass detention operations overseas will divert DoD personnel and resources from its core warfighting mission.”
The Senators raise concerns about conditions of incarceration for migrants being held at Guantanamo Bay, pointing to previously documented abuse of detainees in Department of Homeland Security (DHS) facilities.
In 2022, Sen. Ossoff led an 18-month bipartisan investigation that uncovered that female detainees in Georgia were subjected by a DHS-contracted doctor to excessive, invasive, and often unnecessary gynecological surgeries and procedures.
“Given widespread and well-documented abuse of detainees in DHS and DHS-contracted facilities in the United States, we lack confidence that DHS political leadership has the will or capacity to conduct such detention operations at NS Guantánamo Bay humanely,” Sen. Ossoff and the group continued. “We are concerned that longstanding deficiencies in transparency, health care, and access to counsel throughout the existing DHS detention complex will be magnified when such detention occurs at a remote military facility.”
As part of the inquiry, the group requested specific information about the DoD operations at Guantanamo Bay, including the cost; how many DoD personnel will be diverted to provide security, logistical, or operational support for the operation; and which military units are doing so.
Click here to read the Senators’ letter.
