US flies all 40 migrants held at Guantanamo to Louisiana

WASHINGTON: The United States has flown all 40 migrants being held at its Guantanamo military base in Cuba to the state of Louisiana, a US defence official said on Thursday.

Washington began flying migrants to the notorious base -- best known as a detention facility for suspected militants captured during the “War on Terror” -- early last month as part of President Donald Trump´s immigration crackdown.

“I can confirm that all 40 were flown back to Louisiana” on Tuesday, the defense official said, referring questions about why they were moved to the Department of Homeland Security, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Trump administration has launched what it billed as a major effort to combat illegal migration that has included immigration raids, arrests and deportations, including via Guantanamo.

The Guantanamo prison was opened in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and has been used to indefinitely hold detainees seized during the wars and other operations that followed. Conditions there have prompted an outcry from rights groups, and UN experts have previously condemned it as a site of “unparalleled notoriety.”