A U.S. judge has cleared the way for a legal challenge to continue over the Trump administration’s use of the Guantanamo Bay naval base to hold detained migrants, rejecting the government’s effort to end the case early.
In a Friday ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan declined to dismiss the lawsuit filed against federal authorities. The ruling keeps the case alive and schedules a hearing this week, when both sides are expected to outline how the litigation should proceed.
The dispute centers on President Donald Trump’s announcement in January that his administration would expand the use of a detention facility at Guantanamo Bay as part of its broader immigration enforcement strategy. Trump said the base would be used to confine tens of thousands of what he described as “worst criminal aliens.”
READ ALSO: Trump administration targets SNAP management funds in fight over state records
Court records cited by Judge Sooknanan show that from February through June, about 500 immigrants were held at the base. According to the judge, the facility functioned primarily as a temporary holding site for individuals who already had final orders of removal while they awaited deportation.
Civil liberties groups argue that transferring immigrants to a remote military base outside the continental United States violates the law and raises serious constitutional concerns. The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and allied advocacy organizations.
Lee Gelernt, an attorney for the ACLU, welcomed the judge’s decision. He said in a statement Saturday that he hopes the ruling “will put an end to the Trump administration’s unlawful policy of sending immigrants to military bases in the middle of nowhere solely for the theatric value.”
The federal government has defended its actions, maintaining that immigration authorities have wide discretion to detain individuals with final deportation orders at facilities it deems appropriate.
In a statement responding to the court’s ruling, Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, said, “We look forward to a higher court’s vindication of our use of this facility to keep criminals off American streets.”
READ ALSO: Trump administration freezes green cards and immigration for 19 “high-risk” nations
Guantanamo Bay, often called “Gitmo,” has long been associated with the detention of terrorism suspects captured after the September 11, 2001, attacks, making its use in immigration enforcement particularly controversial.
