Water failure at Guantnamo Bay affects U.S. migrant operations there [View all]

Source: NPR

September 12, 2025 4:56 PM ET


Several migrants sent by the United States to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, had to be relocated to another part of the U.S. naval base there because of a water supply failure, raising more questions about whether Guantánamo can accommodate the 30,000 migrants President Trump has said he wants to send there.

Part of the naval base gets its drinking water from a treatment facility connected by an underwater pipeline, and the Justice Department notified a federal court on Thursday of a "disruption to water service" in late August to the area where the government's Migrant Operations Center, or MOC, is located. That's where the U.S. is housing what it calls "low-threat aliens."

As a result, the three migrants being held at the MOC at the time were transferred to another part of the base where "high-threat aliens" are held. An official at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, which runs the facility, told the court that the two categories of migrants are being housed in separate areas.

The government filing did not state the total number of migrants at Guantánamo when the water problem was discovered, but it said 24 migrants were on the base as of Sept. 9. Migrants have been cycled on and off the island since early February. Water is not expected to be restored for at least another week, the government said.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2025/09/12/nx-s1-5539821/guantanamo-migrants-water-deportations-ice