ICE has sent a documented immigrant from Somalia to the notorious detention camp at the U.S. naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Adam Abdullah came to the U.S. as an asylum seeker in 2023. He had a valid work permit, Social Security number, no criminal history and was working as an auto mechanic in St. Paul, Minnesota, when federal agents arrested him last December at the start of Operation Metro Surge. During a brief phone call from detention on Tuesday, Abdullah told Minnesota Public Radio he was shackled by his wrists and ankles and flown to Guantánamo about two weeks ago, after what immigration officials said would be a deportation flight to Somalia.

Adam Abdullah: “From Miami, they say, 'OK, now we go to Somalia. Then, first we go Cuba for refueling, and then we go some other countries to Somalia.'”

Instead, Abdullah was sent to Guantánamo’s Camp Six, built two decades ago to detain people accused of terrorism. Abdullah says he’s among eight Somalis being held there. Last year, the ACLU sued the Trump administration, seeking to stop the transfer of immigrants to Guantánamo, citing punitive conditions of confinement, isolation and retaliation.