The conglomerate of a company that currently operates the US government immigration detention center at Guantanamo Bay Navy Base under a favorable contract is critical to the conditions under three other immigration lockups running in the US. It is the subject of audits and civil rights complaints. Guardian show.
In one example, a federal audit report on immigration facilities run by a Miami company found several cases that were allegedly “inappropriate use of force.” The report said.
Akima, the Virginia headquarters that operates Guantanamo Bay Immigrants Lockup, has signed more than 40 subsidiaries and more than 2,000 US government contracts. From IT maintenance to armed security, work extending from Saudi Arabia to Arizona has provided government contract services to many federal agencies.
Last year, Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) awarded a contract to one of Akima’s subsidiaries to operate the Guantanamo Immigration Operations Centre. The government has been running immigration detention centers at naval bases for many years, but it became a focus last month when Donald Trump announced that his administration would detain more immigrants there.
In August 2024, Akima Infrastructure Protection was awarded a $163.4 million contract by the Biden administration to operate immigration detention facilities in Guantanamo until June 2029.
The Guantanamo ice detention center, currently run by Akima, is separate from the military prisons used to hold terrorist suspects. Since 2021, immigration facilities have mostly detained immigrants, and in the 1990s it was used by tens of thousands of migrant detainees, an average of 4-40. Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base is located on leased land on Cuba’s southeast coast about 430 miles (700 km) southeast of Miami and is separated from the Republic of Cuba.
“Guantanamo Bay Military Base is being caught in the minds of the world as a dark place of torture and immunity,” said Jesse Franzbrau, senior policy analyst at the National Center for Immigration Justice.
“There is no reasonable justification for shipping immigrants to Guantanamo Bay. This should not be used to bind humans. In the face of international law with us, access to counsels and access to counsels I’ll send people right now without it.”
On January 29, Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of Defense and Homeland Security to expand the Guantanamo immigration detention center to accommodate up to 30,000 migrants.
Since then, the new tent cities have been installed there by homeland security and military authorities. According to the US Navy, seafarers helped build tents, and “stage 1 of expansion” increased the capacity to accommodate 2,000 migrants.
So far, the Trump administration has sent more than 150 immigrant men to Guantanamo on flights from the US, and has been marked for the first time when migrants were sent to military bases on US soil. Previously, it was used by people picked up at the sea.
A spokesman for the Pentagon Southern Command redirected all questions regarding Akima’s ICE contract.
ICE, the Department of Homeland Security, Akima, and several lawyers representing Akima in litigation and contract disputes did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
According to contract records reviewed by the Guardian, immigration facilities will be split into two parts. It is divided into one section, ICE and low security sections, under the control of the US State Department and the United Nations Immigration Agency. their resident.
“This long-term program is a key component of the US efforts to block and disrupt dangerous and illegal maritime migration in the Caribbean,” a State Department spokesman said in a statement to the Guardian, claiming that all other I redirected the question. Guantanamo from within the US over the past few weeks has been to Homeland Security officials. The International Migration Agency did not respond to a request for comment.
ICE has awarded Akima Infrastructure Protection a government contract to operate a more stringent detention section of immigration facilities. According to the US government’s contract website, the company had to ensure that the construction of a “tent city” would allow it to quickly expand the capacity of up to 400 immigrants.
“Guantanamo is an example of how immigration enforcement has expanded past ice. The Department of Defense is involved and is caught up in a place that is offshore, remote, and symbolizes abuse and torture. “Advocacy Director of Detention Clock Network.
She added: “It’s far more infuriating to know that people’s lives and that there are large businesses that benefit from the abuse they experience in immigration detention.”
The Trump administration has not released details about the number of immigrants currently in detention in Guantanamo, or how long they are there. A military spokesman said 62 “illegal threat aliens” were held in terrorist military prisons last Friday morning and 50 immigrants were held at the immigration operations centre.
The report claims that all the newest immigrants at the facility are from Venezuela.
The Trump administration has accused immigrant men of being “worst and worst,” but Venezuelan prison gang member Tren de Aragua – CBS also says “low-risk” immigrants with no criminal history are out there He reported that he could send it. Subsequent reports show that the families of some men claim they are innocent and not gang members.
Earlier this month, a federal judge in New Mexico blocked the possibility of three other men moving to Guantanamo. One of the three Venezuelan men said they were afraid of being taken there because they were “black holes.”
“I also see the constant violation of human rights in Guantanamo, so I’m afraid of what will happen to me if I’m taken there,” Abrahan Barrios Morales said he He said in a statement. The three men were later deported.
Additionally, a group of civil rights groups filed a lawsuit last Wednesday, demanding that the Trump administration grant immigrant detainees access to lawyers.
Records reviewed by the Guardian show that Akima Infrastructure Protection has so far received more than $9 million for Guantanamo’s operations since August. The largest portion of that, $7.9 million, was given to the company on February 7th, records show.
Elsewhere, reviews of the documents show that Akima’s subsidiary will contract with agencies within the sector, such as defense, energy and internal. Some of Akima’s subsidiaries provide IT services, equipment maintenance and other services to government buyers. Akima’s contractors maintain US military helicopters in Saudi Arabia and provide training to the Saudi military forces.
In 2022, one of the company’s subsidiaries, Akima Global Services, operated a currently closed facility in Texas for the company’s immigrant children, according to court records reviewed by the Guardian.
In another example, Akima’s subsidiary operates immigration prisons for the ice. Akima Global Services operates at least five immigration detention centres, the Guardian discovered. These include the Buffalo Detention Center in New York, the Port Isabel Facility in Texas, the North Chrome Service Processing Center in Florida, and the Florence Service Processing Center in Arizona. The Guardian, the subsidiary, runs the Guard operation in three immigration detention spaces in Puerto Rico.
Last year, a group of immigrant rights groups filed a civil rights complaint, claiming that officials at Buffalo Detention Facility protested a lack of free calls to families, with physical strength and lonely confinement. did. It is unclear whether the Homeland Security Agency has launched an investigation or has reached a conclusion.
Last October, ICE extended its Akima Global Services contract until the end of this month to operate the Chrome North Service Processing Center in Miami despite criticism of the treatment of immigrants. Last year, DHS inspectors released a report finding that Akima Guards did not comply with usage standards. In one case, the report says Pepper promoted the detainee through a door slot in an isolated confinement cell. “The officers were not under threat, and detainees were not threatened to themselves or others,” the report said.
In response, ICE agreed with most of the inspector’s findings, with staff “may have been involved in a Force use case” being “retrained with de-escalation techniques and mental health assistance.” He added.
In 2023, DHS inspectors announced an audit of the Port Isabel Service Processing Center in Texas, realising that there are serious issues in facilities that threaten the health and safety of immigrant detainees. The audit documented violations related to the use of force. They also discovered that conditions within isolated confinement units were very unsafe and recommended that buildings be blamed.
As the Guardian reported in December, the contract with Akima was extended, and staff began searching for contractors to destroy isolated units, design and build new ones.
The world of federal contracts is vague, with subsidiaries often receiving federal contracts. Akima, the parent company of Akima Infrastructure Protection, is owned by Nana Regional Corporation, a subsidiary in itself and even larger company.
In the 1970s, 13 regional Alaska native companies were established to resolve long-standing land claims by Alaska Native Americans. All of these are owned by Alaska’s Native American shareholders and have dozens of subsidiaries. A company’s status means that it is exempt from certain surveillance by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission because it cannot sell or trade shares of the company.
Akima owns Nana Regional Corporation, one of these Alaska native companies, and despite belonging to a huge conglomerate, Nana and Akima’s subsidiaries are classified as “Small and Medium Enterprises”, with minority shareholders and minority shareholders I regularly receive federal contracts for stock companies. .
Akima has recently boasted that it is worth $20 billion, as he has so many contracts through his subsidiary.
Despite being headquartered in Virginia, Akima utilizes links with native tribes. Its website contains videos and images of Inupat Native Americans and the snowy Alaska tundra. Although not all Akima staff are Alaska Native Americans, a portion of the proceeds goes to native Alaska shareholders.
It is unclear what the situation in Guantanamo looks like now, and what it legally means for immigrants. DHS secretary Kristi Noem said there was “justified procedures being followed” for the sake of immigration.
The facility is very secret. The contract referring to immigrants placed under ice custody transports “hand restraints and blackout goggles obscuring vision” around the base of the “blackout van.” Recent photos of Guantanamo’s immigration detention work do not show the use of black outing goggles, but show the use of blackened buses.
“As we move on to detaining Guantanamo people, we are very concerned that Americans will have less and less visibility into what is going on there” – Tracking for-profit businesses in the US detention system The for-profit organization’s advocacy said.
Accessing information about activities in Guantanamo Bay is particularly difficult for supporters and the media.
“The conditions are terrible across the web of ice detention in the United States. People are subject to abuse, food is often rotten, water is inaccessible. There are places with sewage problems, medical negligence and abuse There is. It’s all endemic and part of the ice detention system,” said Gandehari of the Detention Clock Network.
She concluded: “There’s no reason to think Guantanamo is different, but we don’t have the same level of access, so it’s going to be hard to document how bad it really is.”
