Caribbean nationals are among several foreign nationals who are currently being held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, according to the United States (US) Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
It said the detainees are from Haiti, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis and the Dominican Republic.
In a statement, DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Tricia McLaughlin, said the detention of foreigners with criminal records at Guantanamo Bay shows that President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem are using “every tool available to get criminal illegal aliens off our streets and out of our country”.
US media reports said that as part of an expansion of the Trump administration’s effort to turn Guantanamo Bay into an immigration detention centre, officials had transferred detainees from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Europe to the naval base. Initially, the base housed mainly Spanish-speaking Latin American migrants awaiting deportation.
The list shows that Guantanamo Bay is housing detainees from all continents other than Antarctica.
The criminal records of the detainees include convictions for homicide, sexual offences, including against children, child pornography, assault with a weapon, kidnapping, drug smuggling, and robbery.
