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The migrant detention facility that Donald Trump promised to build at the Guantanamo Naval Base to house 30,000 migrants is practically empty more than a year after its announcement, according to internal government documents obtained by CBS News.
As of May 11, only six detainees —all nationals of Haiti— remained at the base, occupying less than 2% of the approximately 400 available beds, far from the promised 30,000.
In contrast to that minimum number of inmates, the Department of Defense maintains 522 military personnel assigned to the operation, along with approximately 60 employees from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and additional civilian staff.
This means that government employees outnumber detainees by approximately 100 to one during this week.
Over the past year, 832 detained immigrants were transferred to Guantánamo on more than 100 flights, but the vast majority were subsequently deported or moved to other facilities.
Among the most notable cases, dozens of Cubans—many with no criminal records—were sent to Guantánamo in late 2025 and early 2026, only to be returned to detention centers in the United States before being finally deported to Cuba.
Despite the low occupancy, the operation is projected to cost at least 73 million dollars just for the military component, according to information the Department of Defense provided in April to Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren.
This figure represents a significant increase compared to the previous public estimate of 40 million dollars, an expenditure that had already drawn criticism from the early stages of the operation.
Warren accused Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth of "wasting billions in taxpayer funds on a cruel immigration agenda."
The attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Lee Gelernt, who filed a lawsuit against the operation, was more direct: "Not only is the use of Guantanamo by the Trump administration unprecedented and illegal, but it also serves no legitimate policy objective given the financial and logistical burden of using this notorious military base for immigration purposes."
In December 2025, a federal judge in Washington D.C. ruled in a preliminary decision that the detention of civilian immigrants in Guantánamo was "impermissibly punitive" and likely illegal, although he did not block the operation.
Theresa Cardinal Brown, a former official of the Department of Homeland Security under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, explained why costs are so high: “Everything has to be sent there. It's not like we're importing things from Cuba. Everything has to come from a U.S. source to that military facility. It’s going to be much, much more expensive.”
Cardinal Brown pointed out that the true objective of Guantánamo —along with other controversial facilities like "Alligator Alcatraz" in Florida— is to deter illegal migration and pressure undocumented immigrants to self-deport, although the deterrent effect is difficult to measure.
The spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, Lauren Bis, defended the operation this Wednesday with a warning message: "If you come to our country illegally and break our laws, you could end up in Guantanamo Bay, CECOT, or a third country. Our message is clear: illegal criminal foreigners are not welcome in the U.S."
The legality of the program remains the subject of active litigation, while the base continues to have its facilities almost unoccupied and a bill that, according to the documents, keeps growing.
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