With little more than 24 hours’ notice, eight men from Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, South Sudan, and Vietnam were flown from the United States to a U.S military facility in Djibouti in May, with the intention of eventually sending them to South Sudan. They have remained locked up in a converted shipping container where they have suffered from extreme heat, lack of necessary medications, combat-esque movement restrictions, and poor quality air. The use of a military base for immigration detention appears to be part of a wider U.S trend of seeking to deport migrants to third countries across the globe–recently facilitated by a U.S Supreme Court Ruling–raising serious concerns about the detainees’ fundamental rights as well as questions about violations of both domestic and international laws.
[Note that an update was added to this blog post on 5 July to take into account the latest Supreme Court ruling allowing for the men’s deportation to South Sudan.]
According to US authorities, the group of eight men had all been convicted of serious offences in the United States and were slated for deportation to South Sudan. (Lawyers representing deportees–including the group stuck in Djibouti–challenge this assertion, noting “many, if not the majority, of the class members in this case…have no criminal convictions whatsoever. Many also entered legally on family-based, employment, or student visas, or as refugees.”) However, when a Boston judge blocked this move–stating that they could not be deported to the country without being able to challenge their expulsion–the men instead disembarked in Djibouti.
They have been detained in a conference room within a converted shipping container at Camp Lemonnier, a U.S military base. Originally under the custody of the three Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials who accompanied the group from the U.S to Djibouti, since 27 May additional ICE officers have also been overseeing their detention.
In a filing submitted to the U.S Supreme Court by lawyers representing deportees, it is noted that at least one of those stuck in Djibouti originates from Mexico–”whose government historically has accepted repatriation of all its citizens, suggesting that Defendants’ third country removal policy is intentionally punitive.”
Smog, Lack of Medications, and Movement Restrictions
In a sworn court declaration, a US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official discussed the conditions that the group face in the camp. Confirming that they were being detained in a conference room within a converted shipping container, she noted that the room “is not equipped nor suitable for detention of any length, let alone for the detention of high-risk individuals.”
She also raised concerns regarding the health of the group (albeit largely focussing on the health of the ICE officers responsible for them)–explaining that the group were not initially provided with anti-malarial medication, despite Djibouti being a Malaria-endemic country, and that medications were in short supply. Harper further added that due to the military base being in close proximity to “burn pits” (which Djibouti uses to burn waste), the group faced poor quality air: “These pits create a smog cloud in the vicinity of Camp Lemonnier, making it difficult to breathe.”
Harper further elaborated on the extreme movement restrictions the detainees face, which appear to resemble combat-level protocols, noting that they are escorted by ICE officers from the container to a separate “designated area” for medical consultations and to the “alien designated restroom.” According to Harper: “the designated restrooms are located in a separate trailer, which is forty to fifty yards from the unit in which the aliens are housed. The ICE officers conduct pat-downs and searches for contraband during movements to the restroom, or for any other outside activity. …Aliens are permitted to shower every other day, and showers occur at night due to the heat. From the onset of these ICE operations, the daily temperature outside has exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit during the day.”
U.S Supreme Court Ruling
Originally scheduled for deportation to South Sudan, a country that the U.S State Department advises against travelling to to due to risks of “crime, kidnapping, and armed conflict,” the group of deportees instead disembarked in Djibouti after a 21 May order from a US district judge in Boston (Brian Murphy). This order required the Trump administration to retain the group within U.S custody, and followed his 18 April preliminary injunction in which he blocked the removal of non-nationals to third-countries unless specific prerequisites were met ensuring that deportees would not face torture.
However, following an emergency appeal by the Trump administration, on 23 June the Supreme Court paused Murphy’s ruling following a 6-3 vote–paving the way for the resumption of swift third-country removals. The three dissenting judges condemned the decision–with Judge Sotomayor issuing a lengthy opinion: “Apparently the Court finds the idea that thousands will suffer violence in far-flung locales more palatable than the remote possibility that a District Court exceeded its remedial powers when it ordered the Government to provide notice and process to which the plaintiffs are constitutionally and statutorily entitled.”
According to Judge Murphy, the Supreme Court’s ruling does not impact his May 21 ruling requiring the Djibouti group to remain within U.S custody.
[On 3 July, in a follow up ruling to its 23 June decision, the Supreme Court confirmed that the Trump administration can proceed with the deportation of the men to South Sudan despite the fact that the US State Department had issued a “Level 4: Do Not Travel” advisory for South Sudan because of an ongoing armed conflict there and high levels of violence and crime. For more on this ruling, see JuristNews, “US Supreme Court allows deportation of migrants to South Sudan.”]
The Use of Military Bases for Detention
The decision to detain non-nationals on the base is the latest in a series of moved by the Trump administration since February 2025 aimed at transferring migrants to offshore detention sites, including the Guantánamo Migrant Operations Center, located at the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay. This pattern of externalised detention efforts raises concerns that the administration may increasingly turn to overseas military facilities as detention sites when deportation efforts face legal obstacles.
(For background on the history and harmful impact of the externalisation of immigration controls, see the Global Detention Project’s 2025 submission on this issue to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants. See also: M. Flynn, “Externalisation, immigration detention and the Committee on Migrant Workers,” Forced Migration Review, 2021.)
The use of military bases for detaining non-nationals poses significant human rights issues, including regarding detainees’ lack of access to legal representation, the absence of judicial oversight, and limited public scrutiny of detention operations. Such facilities are also often ill-unequipped to protect the needs of this vulnerable population.
There are also serious safety risks associated with detaining non-nationals on military bases. Camp Lemonnier, where the detainees are currently being held, serves as the primary operational base for U.S Africa Command in the Horn of Africa, and is located adjacent to Djibouti-Ambouli International Airport. Described by a 2021 TIME article as resembling a “sand-colored prison fortress,” highlighting its fortified nature, the camp nevertheless remains at risk of attack by virtue of its role as a prominent military installation in an unstable region. This was underscored by Harper, who stated that Department of Defense officials have warned that the camp is in “imminent danger of rocket attacks from terrorist groups in Yemen.” While military personnel on the base will inevitably be equipped with appropriate body armour, Harper reports that neither the detainees nor ICE agents were provided with protective equipment.
The Treatment of Irregular Migrants in Djibouti Itself
As the GDP has previously reported, Djibouti has served as a major transit country for migrants and asylum seekers from the Horn of Africa attempting to reach the Arabian Peninsula. According to the IOM, 42,187 “migratory movements” were observed at the country’s 9 “flow monitoring points” in April this year–an average of 1,406 per day. Of these, 20,894 were reported to be transiting to Saudi Arabia.
In recent years, authorities have stepped up their efforts to intercept migrants in the country. In April this year, authorities called on everyone residing in the country irregularly to leave voluntarily within a month, swiftly followed by announcing the commencement of a deportation campaign in mid May. According to the online publication, Somalimagazine, since 19 May authorities have apprehended and detained hundreds of irregular migrants and asylum seekers–mirroring similar efforts in previous years.
