Urge lawmakers to reject any funding or authorization, reaffirm need to close the facility
Join the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, in calling on Congress to oppose President Donald Trump’s announced executive order directing the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security to expand the U.S. naval base military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
This plan would create capacity for some 30,000 individuals—predominantly undocumented immigrants—imprisoned under a system designed to circumvent constitutionally guaranteed due process protections.
TAKE ACTION: URGE CONGRESS TO SHUT DOWN, NOT EXPAND GITMO
In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
“Expanding Guantánamo Bay by even one bed—let alone tens of thousands—continues the torture site’s dark legacy at a time when the prison should be closed for good.
“The American people have long called for the closure of the Guantánamo Bay prison and reject any plan to expand it against any community. Hundreds of innocent Muslim men were falsely labeled the ‘worst of the worst’ and tortured at Guantanamo, where they were held for years without charge, trial, or any apology or restitution. Some still remain.
“We must not allow this dark chapter of injustice to be repeated. The U.S. military prison at Guantánamo Bay has been a legal ‘black hole’ where U.S. constitutional rights of due process disappear. Members of Congress should oppose this proposed expansion of the prison and make it clear that every person in U.S. custody, including undocumented immigrants, must be treated with dignity and receive due process.”
Over the past two decades, hundreds of Muslim men were wrongly detained at Guantánamo Bay, falsely labeled the “worst of the worst.” Most were released without charge, without trial, and without any formal apology—underscoring that indefinite offshore detention fosters wrongful imprisonment.
The prison at Guantánamo Bay has long been condemned by international human rights organizations. It epitomizes a system in which detainees are often held indefinitely, subjected to inhumane treatment, and denied legal recourse. CAIR believes that expanding this flawed model to include undocumented immigrants would undermine the United States’ international standing.
Join CAIR in urgently calling on members of Congress to:
- Reject Any Authorization or Funding: Demand that no federal resources be allocated to enlarge or maintain Guantánamo Bay for this purpose.
- Protect Constitutional Rights: Ensure that all individuals in U.S. custody—regardless of immigration status—are guaranteed due process protections.
- Close Guantánamo Bay: Rather than expanding a facility internationally recognized as a symbol of human rights abuses, lawmakers must finally address the ongoing moral and legal stain by working toward its closure.
In January, CAIR welcomed the Pentagon’s transfer 11 Yemeni men to Oman after holding them for more than two decades without charge at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay.
For more information on the unconstitutional military camp at Guantanamo Bay Cuba, CAIR recommends visiting Georgetown University’s Bridge Initiative website: Guantánamo Bay Military Prison: Narratives and Numbers.
For the past two decades, CAIR has repeatedly called for the closure of Guantanamo.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Director of Government Affairs Department Robert S. McCaw, 202-716-6242, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com