Rights Groups Challenge Trump Administration Over Guantánamo Detentions

The class action, filed in the District of Columbia by the ACLU, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the International Refugee Assistance Project, targets the secretaries of defense, homeland security, and state. The plaintiffs include two Nicaraguan men, Yamil Luna Gutierrez and Rafael Angel Lopez Ocon, who were transferred to the base after initial detention in Virginia and Louisiana.

Legal advocates argue that the government’s shift of civil immigration detainees to Guantánamo violates the Immigration and Nationality Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the Fifth Amendment. According to the complaint, the administration has held approximately 500 people at the site since February 4, 2025, at a reported cost exceeding $40 million. While standard domestic detention costs roughly $165 per day per person, the suit claims the Guantánamo operation incurs expenses nearing $100,000 per day per detainee.

Beyond the financial disparity, the filing contends that the government’s strategy is designed to instill fear rather than serve a legitimate administrative purpose. Detainees are reportedly isolated from legal counsel and housed in facilities previously used for war-on-terror prisoners. The coalition is seeking an immediate court intervention to block the administration from continuing these transfers, asserting that existing domestic detention capacity renders the use of the offshore facility both unnecessary and unlawful.