How Offshore Detention Hides Human Suffering, Undermines Due Process, and Fuels the Deportation-Industrial Complex—And What We Can Do to Stop It
- Why offshore detention threatens democracy.
- Who is profiting, and who is a part of the deportation-detention industrial complex?
- Practical advocacy measures on how to fight back.
Have you ever thought about how many people have ever been detained at Guantanamo Bay?
Like, ever.
Before the 30,000 migrants Trump is trying to cram in there now.
The 780 detainees before that were from 48 different countries since the detention center was founded in 2002 by George Bush. Originally founded to confine terrorists and "illegal enemy combatants," the history of this place is sketchier than a Van Gogh immersive exhibit. Bush specifically chose the spot because he thought detainees wouldn't be entitled to rights under the U.S. Constitution or the Geneva Conventions. The halls of this facility wreak with 23 years of human rights abuses, torture, and "enhanced interrogation techniques."
As of January 2025 there were 15 prisoners left in Guantanamo Bay before Trump started plans to repurpose it for 30,000 migrants. The sheer scale of what we're looking at is mind-blowing and historical. The lack of public oversight facilitates increased risk for human rights violations, and creates legal black holes that the migrants won't be able to navigate their way out of. This policy is a direct attack on democratic accountability and human dignity, and we have to do something about it.
I.
Offshore detention centers with odd legal geographies are particularly dangerous, because placing migrants in Guantanamo hides their suffering from the media, human rights organizations, and the general public. And it makes it hard for detainees to access lawyers, asylum claims, or due process protections. Not to mention the use of military bases for civil immigration enforcement blurs the line between war policies and domestic governance further exacerbating the dynamic.
It helps when people with protected rights can see your rights getting violated. That visibility is key. You might remember some of the controversies coming out of Guantanamo Bay back when we used to watch television. The horrors these folks had to live with went beyond what anyone could call "enhanced interrogation techniques" and went to straight up sexual assault. Prisoners need to be connected to a network of oversight, press, and lawyers who can cover and protect their rights before they suffer similar human rights violations like their alma maters.
II.
And where is all the money getting pumped through this crime on humanity going? Private contractors and ICE.
Currently, the U.S. spends over $3 billion annually on immigration detention. The average cost for a detention bed is $208 per day for adults. If we multiply that by 30,000 detainees and 365 days then we're looking at an additional annual cost of $2,277,600,000 just for Trump's latest addition to the operation. Yet the Laken Riley Act, recently signed into law, allocates $83 billion over three years for the addition of 118,500 detention beds.
Not to mention all of this comes at a massive convenience to the Trump administration. By bypassing legal constraints the president is able to swiftly make true to his campaign promises and appeal to the House and Senate that have been pushing the Laken Riley Act. Legislation that implies both republican and democrat representatives have been backing stricter detention policies. But the administration also recognizes that the process would take way longer if they did anything legally. They're not playing by the book. They're deliberately circumventing legal protections and due process requirements that apply on U.S. soil, because Trump needs this operation to move yesterday. An authoritarian overreach that threatens our democracy because it creates the precedent for a future president to take this a step further. Where is this going? What other suppressed minority are we planning on repurposing Guantanamo for next?
There are a few ways we can challenge the movement of money around this situation. First, we need to address the elephant in the room. Big corporations throwing PAC contributions at immigrant detention centers need to be pressured to redirect their funds away from candidates supporting specific immigration policies. And we need to advocate for transparency in campaign finance so we can identify and potentially reduce funding sources for candidates supporting these immoral immigration policies.
III.
Trying to redirect the flow of money is one way, but it's honestly probably the hardest. Folks that are already spending money on this know you don't like it. Maybe educating investors can help the cause, but I think we'll find in many cases that's not enough. But there are other ways we can resist letting our country be guilty of such a crime on humanity.
We can try pressuring companies like GEO Group and CoreCivic to pull out of their ICE contracts. Cancel culture should be able to take a knip at this. Shame the companies carrying this guilt on their hands. We can even start entire divestment movements where we call upon universities, pensions funds, and city governments to divest from detention-related investments. Contact your legislators and lobby to support bills that outlaw offshore immigrant detention. Find out if your legislators were involved in promoting the Laken Riley Act, and replace them if they did. Back lawsuits that challenge Guantanamo’s use as an immigration prison. Protest and demonstrate outside ICE offices, military bases, and federal buildings. Foster mutual aid networks to support detained migrants and their families. There isn't a lot of media available at the moment as press hasn't been able to reach Guantanamo recently, but promote digital advocacy campaigns to keep Guantanamo detainees’ stories in the public eye whenever possible.
IV.
Offshore detention is a symptom of a larger broken immigration system that prioritizes punishment over humanity. But there is a precedent for believing there's hope. Thanks to global campaigning efforts, many Guantánamo detainees have been freed. For example, Sami al Hajj, an Al Jazeera cameraman held without charge for over six years, was released in 2008. David Hicks, an Australian detainee, had his conviction overturned in 2015 after years of advocacy. Similarly, in 2023, the convictions of Taner Kılıç and Idil Eser, Amnesty International Türkiye officials, were quashed following a global campaign. And activism has played a crucial role in supporting individuals like Mansoor Adayfi, a former Guantánamo detainee who was able to secure a passport and travel abroad with Amnesty International's help.
It's easy to feel overwhelmed by the onslaught of doomer news hitting our feeds. I know I am. But if there's even a glimmer of hope for a our brothers and sisters in captivity I believe it's worth fighting for. Demand the shutdown of Guantanamo’s immigration detention. Pressure lawmakers, corporations, and institutions to divest from ICE. And support grassroots organizations fighting for immigrant rights.
As a token of my appreciation for reading this article near to my heart, I'll leave you with a little treat. Something that may or may not be an added help in pursuit of this end. Am I speaking in code? I don't know. But I do know that cute winter boots are great for walking on ice.
In 1944 the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the predecessor of the CIA, wrote The Simple Sabotage Field Manual. It was created during World War II as a guide for training "citizen-saboteurs" in occupied countries like Norway and France. The manual's purpose was to provide instructions on how ordinary people could engage in simple acts of sabotage to disrupt enemy operations without specialized training or equipment. I'll leave that document for you to read and share here.
