ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Lawyers for three Venezuelan immigrants arrested in New Mexico during President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown have asked a federal court to prevent them from being sent to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.
A court filing Sunday says while the men haven't been told they'll be transferred out of the Otero County Processing Center, they have a credible fear that they'll be sent to Guantanamo. Other detainees at the facility run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, were flown to the U.S. naval base in recent days, the document says.
The filing claims the three immigrants “fit the profile of those the administration has prioritized for detention in Guantanamo, i.e. Venezuelan men detained in the El Paso area with (false) charges of connections with the Tren de Aragua gang.”
It asks the U.S. District Court for a temporary restraining order blocking their transfer, adding that “the mere uncertainty the government has created surrounding the availability of legal process and counsel access is sufficient to authorize the modest injunction.”
A message seeking comment was left for ICE.
The filing came as part of a lawsuit on behalf of the three men filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, and Las Americas Immigrant Advisory Center.
The Tren de Aragua gang originated in a lawless prison in the central Venezuelan state of Aragua more than a decade ago and has expanded in recent years as millions of desperate Venezuelans fled President President Nicolás Maduro 's rule and migrated to other parts of Latin America or the U.S.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said last week that flights of detainees had landed at Guantanamo. Immigrant rights groups sent a letter Friday demanding access to people who have been sent there, saying the base should not be used as a “legal black hole.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that more than 8,000 people have been arrested in immigration enforcement actions since Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration.
Trump has vowed to deport millions of the estimated 11.7 million people in the U.S. illegally.