Two men from St. Paul and a third Somali asylum seeker from Minnesota say they were moved to Camp 6 at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, after ICE told them they would be deported to Somalia. The men, who arrived in the United States in 2023 and hold work permits, describe cold, constant air‑conditioning, aggressive shackling and round‑the‑clock surveillance.
Background and detention timeline
Abdullahi Adam Mohamed, 31, was detained on Dec. 12, 2025 during the Operation Metro Surge immigration sweep. After a series of transfers – from Freeborn County Jail in Albert Lea to a detention center in Covington, Kentucky, then to Louisiana – an immigration judge ordered his removal on May 14, 2026. He and seven other Somali detainees arrived on the same flight and were placed in Camp 6, a facility traditionally used for high‑risk inmates, with an eighth held in isolation.
Adam says ICE agents told him he would be “refueled” in Cuba before continuing to Somalia, but he has now been at Guantánamo for three weeks. He and the other detainees claim they were promised deportation to Somalia, yet remain in a military prison without clear legal justification.
Trump administration’s role
Shortly after President Trump began his second term in 2025, he issued an executive order expanding the Migrant Operation Center at Guantánamo Bay to accommodate up to 30,000 people. Since then, ICE detainee counts at the base have fluctuated, reaching a high of 255 in February 2025 and dropping to nine in June 2026, according to the Deportation Data Project.
In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security described the Somali detainees as “some of the worst of the worst” with criminal histories, despite the men’s claims of clean records and active asylum cases. The agency did not answer follow‑up questions about the conditions or legal basis for their detention.
Legal and humanitarian concerns
Human‑rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, argue there is no legal authority to hold civil immigration cases in a military prison designed for counter‑terrorism. Yumna Rizvi of the Center for Victims of Torture said the language used by the current administration mirrors that of the post‑9/11 Bush era, framing detainees as “high‑priority criminal aliens.” She warned that due process and access to counsel appear systematically denied.
Attorney Marc Prokosch, representing Adam, has tracked six of the eight Somali detainees and says four are recent asylum seekers while two have been in the United States longer. Their families describe them as law‑abiding individuals who contributed to their communities as mechanics, rideshare drivers and truck drivers.
Local impact
Friends and family in Minnesota say the men’s detention has caused deep distress. Adam’s cousin Naima Ali noted that his clean record, work permit and consistent attendance at asylum hearings should have protected him, yet he remains separated from his mother, who died while he was detained in Covington.
The situation underscores the broader impact of federal immigration enforcement on Minnesota’s immigrant communities, many of whom rely on the labor and contributions of asylum seekers and refugees.
Original reporting: Sahan Journal — read the source article.
