U.S. sending nonviolent, “low-risk” migrants to Guantanamo, despite vow to detain “the worst” there

While the Trump administration has highlighted transfers of dangerous criminals and suspected gang members to Guantanamo Bay, it is also sending nonviolent, "low-risk" migrant detainees who lack serious criminal records or any at all, according to two U.S. officials and internal government documents.

When he ordered officials to convert facilities inside the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, into a large-scale immigration detention site late last month, President Trump said it would house the "worst" migrants and "provide additional detention space for high-priority criminal aliens."

Administration officials have since touted military flights to Guantanamo that they said have transported migrants in the U.S. illegally who have also committed violent crimes like murder and rape, as well as alleged members of Tren de Aragua, the infamous gang that originated in Venezuelan prisons.

Internal documents and interviews with U.S. officials indicate the administration has sent migrant criminals and alleged gang members to Guantanamo, detaining them in the post-9/11 maximum-security prison that also houses, in a separate section, more than a dozen terrorism suspects.

But in addition to sending those with criminal records or suspected or known gang ties — classified as "high-risk" detainees — U.S. officials have also transported migrants deemed to be "low-risk" to Guantanamo, according to the government documents obtained by CBS News. More low-risk migrants are expected to be transported on Wednesday, alongside high-risk detainees, the documents show.

Federal immigration authorities define low-risk detainees as migrants who face deportation because they are in the U.S. illegally but who have not been arrested or convicted of violent offenses or other serious crimes, government guidelines show. U.S. officials said they could include migrants who lack any criminal record but have been ordered deported because of civil immigration violations, like entering the country without proper documents.