President Donald Trump promised more than a year ago to hold 30,000 migrants at the notorious Guantanamo Bay military base, but it now sits almost empty, according to a new report.
Just six migrant detainees were being held at the U.S. naval base in Cuba on Monday, CBS News reported, citing federal documents. All of the detainees are from Haiti.
Despite the small number of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, the operation is expected to cost the military more than $70 million, according to information provided to a Senate Democrat.
Trump had vowed to send tens of thousands of migrants from the U.S. to Guantanamo Bay shortly after returning to the White House.
In January 2025, Trump directed the Defense Department and the Homeland Security Department to expand the Migrant Operations Center at Guantanamo Bay to “full capacity.”
“We have 30,000 beds in Guantanamo to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people,” the president said at the time. “Some of them are so bad we don’t even trust the countries to hold them because we don’t want them coming back.”
Trump claimed that the “worst criminal” migrants were being sent to Guantanamo Bay, but CBS News reported in February 2025 that his administration was also sending nonviolent detainees who lacked a serious criminal record or have no past offenses.
Lauren Bis, a spokeswoman for the Homeland Security Department, told CBS News on Wednesday, “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: criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S.”
CECOT is an El Salvadoran prison accused of having inhumane conditions. The prison in Guantanamo Bay, which opened in 2002 during the War on Terror, has also been made infamous by previous allegations of human rights violations, including torture.
The Independent has reached out to the Defense Department and the Homeland Security Department for comment.
Even the annual total of migrants sent to the military base doesn’t come close to Trump’s 30,000 goal. Over the past year, just 832 detainees were transferred to the base on more than 100 flights, according to the federal documents obtained by CBS News.
Despite the 100-to-1 ratio of government employees to migrant detainees at Guantanamo Bay recorded this week, per the documents, the operation is reportedly costing the military $73 million.
That dollar amount shared by CBS News was provided by the Defense Department to Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts in April.
Warren accused Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of “wasting billions in taxpayer funds on a cruel immigration agenda” in a statement to CBS News.
A majority of Americans, 53 percent, disapprove of Trump’s immigration policy, while just 40 percent approve, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll.
