I was a Guantánamo detainee. I’m horrified that Trump wants to keep immigrants there | Mansoor Adayfi

This moral failure and sends a clear message - the government prioritizes deterrence over dignity and cruelty over compassion

In a move that has reignited outrage, the president, Donald Trump, signed an executive order to expand the Migrant Operations Center at Guantanamo Bay, aiming to detain up to 30,000 immigrants labeled as high-priority criminal aliens". For many, including myself, this decision is a painful reminder of the facility's dark history - a history marked by torture, indefinite detention and systemic dehumanization.

Guantanamo Bay, a name synonymous with human rights abuses, was first repurposed in 2002 under then president George W Bush and defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld as a detention center for individuals branded as the worst of the worst". I was among those detainees - abducted, shackled and transported like cargo, blindfolded and unaware of my fate. The memories of roaring military planes, soldiers barking orders and the growls of attack dogs still haunt me.

Mansoor Adayfi is the author of Don't Forget Us Here