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- A federal judge blocked the transfer of three Venezuelan detainees to Guantanamo.
- The detainees claim unlawful detention after fleeing Venezuela for U.S. protection.
- Concerns about human rights violations at Guantanamo were raised by a detainee.
LAS CRUCES, N.M. — A federal judge in New Mexico on Sunday granted a preemptive restraining order to block the U.S. government from sending three Venezuelan men detained in the state from being sent to a military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Judge Kenneth Gonzales of the Federal District Court for New Mexico said during a video conference hearing that he was granting the order, said Baher Azmy, a lawyer for the men.
The court did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A court document confirming Gonzales' action was not available by late Sunday.
Azmy is with the Center for Constitutional Rights, which earlier Sunday said in a written statement that the men had filed the motion requesting that their possible transfer to Guantanamo be blocked, though there had not yet been any such order to send them to the base.
The men have a pending case before a federal court in New Mexico challenging what they say is their unlawfully prolonged detention after they fled Venezuela seeking protection in the United States.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency didn't respond to a request for comment on the men's request to not be sent to Guantanamo or if they even planned to send the three detainees to the base in Cuba.
President Donald Trump said in late January that his administration planned to create capacity to house up to 30,000 migrants at the U.S. naval base, best known for a separate high-security prison used for foreign terrorism suspects.
The Trump administration last week moved to end protections against deportation for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in the U.S.
"I fear being taken to Guantanamo because the news is painting it as a black hole. ... I also see that human rights are constantly violated at Guantanamo, so I fear what could happen to me if I get taken there," Abrahan Barrios Morales, one of the detained Venezuelan men, said in the written statement put out earlier Sunday by the Center for Constitutional Rights.
The American Civil Liberties Union on Friday demanded access to migrants flown by the U.S. military to Guantanamo Bay saying the Trump administration has provided virtually no information about the migrants and the detentions raise questions about violations of U.S. and international laws.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has given few details about the migrants sent to Guantanamo in the past week, saying the first cohort of about 10 people comprised alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua but declined to provide specifics about criminal charges or convictions.
