Court grants request to block 3 Venezuelan immigrants from being sent to Guantanamo
A federal court on Sunday blocked President Donald Trump's administration from sending three Venezuelan detainees from being sent to a migrant holding facility at Guantanamo Bay, according to a report from AP News.
The three men had been accused of having connections to the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, the report said. Texas Gov. Glenn Abbott designated the gang a foreign terror organization in September 2024.
The first flight carrying so-called high-threat migrants to the newly established migrant holding facility in Cuba arrived Feb. 4. All 10 people on the flight were also suspected members of Tren de Aragua, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
However, the Center for Constitutional Rights, which is representing the three men, said in a filing early Sunday that they "have a pending case before the court challenging their unlawfully prolonged detention" and asserted that they are "migrants who fled Venezuela seeking protection" in the United States.
The filing asked that the U.S. District Court of New Mexico block their transfer on the grounds that “the mere uncertainty the government has created surrounding the availability of legal process and counsel access is sufficient to authorize the modest injunction,” AP News said.
Judge Kenneth J. Gonzales granted the temporary order to prevent their relocation after a brief hearing on Sunday, according to the AP News article.
Trump said last month that the United States will work to prepare the naval base to hold 30,000 migrants awaiting processing to return to their home countries.