The US military base in Cuba has been used to house detainees from the US war on terrorism.
President Donald Trump says he is signing an executive order to instruct the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security to expand a migrant detention facility at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay.
The base is already home to a migrant facility which houses Haitians and Cubans picked up at sea, but its extension would make space for up to 30,000 migrants and signals the Pentagon’s widening role in Trump’s plans to crack down on illegal migration.
It comes after Trump signed the bipartisan Laken Riley Act into law on Wednesday as his administration’s first piece of legislation.
The act states that people who are in the United States illegally and are accused of theft and violent crimes would have to be detained and potentially deported even before a conviction.
Trump, who won back the White House by tapping into public anger over illegal immigration, has made the promised crackdown a centrepiece of his political career and is now suggesting the new law might only be the beginning.
Speaking at a signing ceremony for the Act, Trump proclaimed: “We’re going to send them out to Guantanamo.”
Trump targets critical race theory
President Trump is also ordering US schools to stop teaching what he views as “critical race theory” and other material dealing with race and sexuality or risk losing their federal money.
A separate plan announced Wednesday calls for aggressive action to fight antisemitism on college campuses, promising to prosecute offenders and revoke visas for international students found to be “Hamas sympathisers.”
Both plans were outlined in executive orders to be signed by Trump on Wednesday. The measures seek to fulfil some of the Republican president’s core campaign promises around education, though it’s unclear how much power he has to enact the proposals.
His order on K-12 schools declares that federal money cannot be used on the “indoctrination” of children, including “radical gender ideology and critical race theory.” It says civil rights laws barring discrimination based on sex and race would be used to enforce the order, calling critical race theory an “inherently racist policy.”
Trump has also directed the education secretary to craft a strategy within 90 days to “end indoctrination in K-12 education.” He has appointed billionaire professional wrestling mogul Lina McMahon as his education chief, but her Senate confirmation hearing has not been scheduled.
During his campaign, Trump said he would sign an order “on day one” to cut federal money for schools that push critical race theory or other “inappropriate” content.
The federal government provides billions of dollars to schools every year, though the vast majority of their money comes from state and local sources.
White House rescinds memo freezing federal grants
It comes after Trump’s White House administration has rescinded a previous memo which froze spending on federal grants and loans following widespread confusion and legal challenges.
The memo, which was issued on Monday evening, sparked anxiety across the country as the White House struggled to explain what would and wouldn’t be subject to a pause in funding.
The freeze was scheduled to go into effect at 5pm on Tuesday, but was blocked by a federal judge until at least Monday after an emergency hearing requested by non-profit groups that receive federal grants. An additional lawsuit by Democratic state attorneys general is also pending.
Administration officials said the notice to halt loans and grants was necessary to conduct a review to ensure that spending complies with Trump’s recent overhaul of executive orders.
Agencies had been directed to answer a series of yes or no questions on each federal program by 7 February, with questions including “does this programme promote gender ideology?” and “does this program promote or support in any way abortion?”
But the vaguely worded memo, combined with incomplete answers from the White House throughout the day, left lawmakers, public officials and average Americans struggling to figure out what programs would be affected by the pause. Even temporary interruptions in funding could cause layoffs or delays in public services.
