Pentagon Flights To Guantánamo Cost More Than $21m

The Trump administration spent more than $21 million on military flights transporting migrants to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, within just three months, according to new figures provided to Congress by the Pentagon.

The data, released by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Monday, revealed that between Jan. 20 and April 8, U.S. Transportation Command conducted 46 deportation flights on military aircraft to Naval Station Guantánamo Bay. The effort was pricey, with 802.5 flight hours costing an average of $26,277 per hour.

“Every American should be outraged by Donald Trump wasting military resources to pay for his political stunts that do not make us safer,” Warren said in a statement accompanying the numbers. “U.S. servicemembers did not sign up for this abuse of power.”

Transcom confirmed to The Hill that the information Warren shared is accurate and came from responses that command head Gen. Randall Reed sent to the Senate Armed Services Committee following his posture hearing in March.  

The figures were first reported by NBC News. 

The number of migrants currently being housed at Guantánamo is up for debate, with some officials placing the number as high as 69 — including 43 considered low risk and 26 high threat — and others placing it at 32 individuals.

However, even with those estimates, the figure is still miniscule compared to the 30,000 migrants President Trump anticipated housing at the military base. 

Shortly after taking office in January, Trump ordered the Defense Department and Department of Homeland Security to build tents and set up the military installation to house the tens of thousands of expected migrants before they are deported to their home countries. 

But Guantánamo has held less than 500 migrants since the effort began — never holding more than 200 at any one time —and many such individuals flown there have been taken back to the U.S. in several waves or moved to other countries after Trump’s plan was quickly bogged down by logistical and legal hurdles.

After some 195 tents were set up at the base, they were deemed unfit to use as they did not meet U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) standards requiring they have air conditioning and electricity. The tent construction was paused in February.

What’s more, the Trump administration has faced administration infighting over who was in charge of the mission — formally named Operation Southern Guard — and multiple legal challenges, including a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union over the lack of legal access to migrants at the military installation. 

Democrats have bashed the Guantánamo effort as a wasteful political stunt, arguing the administration's use of military resources to hold and deport migrants takes defense personnel away from their mission.

Warren’s numbers show that Transcom conducted 31 military and contract airlift flights to carry personnel, equipment and supplies to Guantánamo between Jan. 20 and March 25, transporting 715 passengers and 1,016.9 tons of cargo. 

Airlines contracted by the military, including Atlas Air, Delta, Omni Air International, United Airlines and Sun Country, cost more than $1.6 million. Transcom said none of the contracted flights carried migrants.

Even with the limited number of migrants being transported to the installation, the Pentagon has increased the number of flights to Naval Station Guantánamo Bay “in anticipation of U.S. presence and increased capacity,” according to Warren.