The controversial Guantánamo Bay detention centre — which became a symbol of the war on Islamist terrorism following the 11 September attacks — has returned to the spotlight due to a possible decision by the White House to transfer 9,000 migrants to the facility.

According to The Washington Post, among the thousands of deported foreign nationals could be citizens from Italy, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Poland, Turkey and Ukraine. The same newspaper also reported growing concern among US diplomats regarding this move by the Trump administration.

In its first official statement, the US State Department — without revealing the nationalities of those detained — appeared to confirm that Guantánamo was being considered as an option: “It is not the final destination”, but in any case, “it is not new for us to transfer illegal immigrants who have committed crimes to Guantánamo before they are returned to their country of origin”, spokesperson Tammi Bruce explained.

However, the White House later denied any plan to send undocumented migrants to the detention centre, dismissing the idea as “fake news”.

The European Commission has opted not to comment on the matter.

Italy

In Italy, given that two Italian nationals were reportedly among those arrested, foreign minister Antonio Tajani acted swiftly and received no negative signals from the US side in the early stages.

Initial reactions came quickly. Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani stated that the Italians currently in the United States “should not” be sent to Guantánamo, as Italy had already informed the US administration that it was prepared to repatriate them.

“According to initial information from the Department of Homeland Security, Guantánamo would be used for irregular migrants from countries that do not accept repatriations,” Tajani said, responding to Washington Post revelations.

“Italy has already communicated to the US administration its willingness to take back its nationals who are in an irregular situation, fully respecting their individual rights and providing consular assistance. Therefore, there should be no reason for any Italian citizens to be sent to Guantánamo,” he explained.

In any case, Tajani is scheduled to hold a telephone conversation this Thursday 11 June with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio: “I’ll try to get further clarification, but that seems to be the current state of affairs.”

Since President Donald Trump took office in January, the Pentagon has deployed thousands of troops to the southern border, and the government has already used military aircraft to transfer Venezuelan migrants to the maximum-security facility at Guantánamo.

Controversy reaches Parliament

The controversy surrounding the possible transfer of European migrants to Guantánamo has now reached Italy’s Chamber of Deputies, where several MPs have demanded immediate explanations from Giorgia Meloni’s government and requested Tajani’s appearance before Parliament.

“The Washington Post published a disturbing report: 9,000 migrants in the United States may soon be deported to the Guantánamo base — in reality, a prison. A facility infamously known for detaining criminals and Islamic State (IS) terrorists, and one which has faced serious allegations of human rights abuses,” said Angelo Bonelli from the Green and Left Alliance (AVS).

According to the MP, around 800 of those individuals are European citizens, including Britons, French and Italians. And although Tajani has stated that no Italians will be transferred, The Washington Post cites official US sources and documents suggesting otherwise.

“We are facing an extraordinarily serious situation, one which not only concerns Italian citizens but also raises profound questions about the state of human rights in the United States,” Bonelli added.

Senator Raffaella Paita, from the centrist Italia Viva party, has also called for Tajani to report to Parliament.

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At least 24 U.S. cities on Wednesday joined the protests against Donald Trump’s immigration policy, in a wave of pushback that began last Friday in Los Angeles. New protests have been called throughout California, and from coast to coast, from Las Vegas and Seattle to New York and Austin. Thousands of people are expected to take to the streets this week to challenge the U.S. government’s campaign of mass detentions and deportations, a prelude to the protests planned for this Saturday. On that day, President Trump will celebrate his birthday with a military parade in the capital, which will be met with hundreds of demonstrations across the country.

Protests in solidarity with L.A. have been spreading to other locations since the weekend, but on Tuesday they intensified and grew in size. In New York City, thousands of people gathered in Lower Manhattan, home to several federal immigration agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the main focus of protesters’ anger. The protest continued with a peaceful march through the area, but clashes broke out between authorities and a group that remained near the ICE offices. Police arrested dozens of people, pushing and knocking some protesters to the ground, and using pepper spray.

Clashes also broke out in Atlanta, Georgia, where hundreds of people had gathered to protest Tuesday night. According to authorities, six people were arrested after the protest ran past the scheduled time. Officers used chemicals and physical force to disperse the crowd, and some protesters hurled fireworks and rocks. And in Chicago, Illinois, after thousands of people marched through the city streets, some protesters threw water bottles at the police.

Hundreds of people have been arrested across the country since the protests erupted. Most of the arrests have taken place in California, particularly in Los Angeles, where protests entered their sixth day Wednesday amid a heavy military presence and a curfew declared by local authorities. More than 330 people have been arrested in the country’s second-most populated city. Another 240 have been arrested in San Francisco, where protesters forced the closure of two immigration courts on Tuesday.

Some organizers fear that Trump could deploy National Guard troops or Marines to other cities, as he has already done in Los Angeles. The president has said that the military deployment in California could be “the first of many” in different states. In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican and staunch ally of President Trump, especially on immigration issues, has announced that he will deploy the National Guard to his territory “to ensure peace and order,” after several protesters clashed with authorities in a few cities in the southern state, leading to dozens of arrests.

In New York City, Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat but also an ally of Trump on his immigration agenda, has said he does not anticipate a military deployment and has assured that the New York Police Department, due to its size and experience, are prepared to deal with the protests. He has warned, however, that he will not tolerate a repeat of the violence seen in Los Angeles on the streets of the Big Apple. New York, like the California metropolis, is one of the so-called sanctuary cities, which do not cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

Most of the actions planned for this Saturday had been called before the protests erupted in Los Angeles to coincide with the president’s birthday and his military parade. But now the pro-immigrant demonstrations are expected to overlap with those on June 14, giving rise to a massive protest movement, perhaps the largest since Trump took office five months ago.

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During the opening of his masterclass at the Taormina Film Festival in Italy, Michael Douglas said Tuesday that he is “embarrassed” by the United States and apologized for the “global chaos” created under Donald Trump’s presidency. “I realize that my country bears a lot of the responsibility for the chaos that exists in the world. I apologize… I’m embarrassed for my friends, be it my neighbors in Canada, and Mexico, for all the countries in the EU and NATO. I’m embarrassed and I apologize,” the 80-year-old actor declared in front of film students and industry professionals.

Douglas, winner of two Oscars and four Golden Globes, received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Taormina at the city’s ancient Roman theater. Throughout his career, he has combined his artistic side with social commitment: since 1998 he has served as a United Nations Messenger of Peace and collaborated with the Nuclear Threat Initiative, promoting international campaigns for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

In his masterclass, the actor criticized the constant increase in military budgets, especially in the United States, and expressed his astonishment at the persistence of armed conflicts in the age of artificial intelligence: “I have a hard time understanding why, with all the AI and how intelligent we are as human beings, how we possibly can be having this many wars and conflicts as we are. It’s ridiculous,” Douglas said to applause.

At 80 years old — he was born at the end of World War II — Douglas asserted that he had never witnessed such a turbulent period as the current one. He urged replacing military investments with initiatives for dialogue and international cooperation, and appealed to diplomacy as the only way to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.

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