ESCALONA V. NOEM – SEEKING TO STOP TRANSFERS OF IMMIGRATION DETAINEES TO GUANTANAMO

In February 2025, the Trump administration began moving immigration detainees to the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. After first filing a lawsuit seeking to assure that detainees at Guantanamo could make and receive calls with legal counsel (see https://www.acludc.org/en/cases/las-americas-immigrant-advocacy-center-v-kristi-noem-access-counsel-immigration-detainees), on March 1 we, together with the National ACLU, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the International Refugee Assistance Project, filed this lawsuit seeking to prevent the transfer of additional immigration detainees to Guantanamo, for which, we allege, the government has no legal authority. We also sought emergency stays for ten detainees who are at risk of being unlawfully transferred to Guantanamo.

The court heard our emergency motion on March 14 and denied it from the bench. Not long afterward, all of the ICE detainees who had been sent to Guantanamo were removed to their countries of origin, and the government filed a motion to dismiss the case on the ground that it was moot. On May 22 we voluntarily dismissed the case.

Subsequently the government again began sending detainees to Guantanamo, and on June 4, 2025, we filed a second lawsuit challenging those transfers. See Gutierrez v. Noem.