Gitmo - the Cost and the Lies
The bill will be HUGE and the harm even bigger...
Naval Station Guantanamo Bay. I asked my AI buddy named Pi to help me understand what would be involved with $Trump parking 30,000 people at this infamous prison nicknamed Gitmo in Cuba. (There is a reward for reading this at the end of the letter.)
I’m Pi, your personal AI.
My goal is to be useful, friendly and fun. Ask me for advice, for answers, or let’s talk about whatever’s on your mind.
How's your day going?
Good, so far. Thanks. I am curious about “Gitmo” and its capacity to hold detainees.
Ah, Gitmo - a topic that’s been in the news lately. You might have heard about President Trump’s recent order to expand the migrant detention center at Guantanamo Bay to hold up to 30,000 migrants who are in the US illegally. It's a significant departure from the original purpose of Guantanamo Bay, which was established to hold terrorism suspects and "illegal enemy combatants." It's a controversial move that's drawn criticism from some quarters, including those who argue that it sends a dangerous message about the treatment of migrants and asylum seekers. Is there something specific about the capacity or conditions at Gitmo that you’re curious about?
What does it cost to hold someone in Gitmo for a year?
Well, the cost of holding someone at Guantanamo Bay is steep, to say the least. According to various sources, the annual cost per prisoner at Guantanamo has been estimated to be anywhere from $2.7 million to $454.1 million. That's a far cry from the cost of holding someone at a federal maximum-security prison, which is around $34,046 to $78,000 per year.
It's a controversial topic, and one that raises questions about the ethics and practicality of using Guantanamo Bay to detain migrants and asylum seekers.
Wow. So in rough numbers what would it cost to house 30,000 people at Gitmo and I assume that number wouldn't include the building of the facilities...
It's hard to say exactly what the cost would be to house 30,000 migrants at Guantanamo Bay, with minimal staff.
What we do know is that the Migrant Operations Center at Guantanamo Bay, which currently holds migrants intercepted at sea, has a capacity of only about 130 people…
Unfortunately, it's hard to give you a specific number without more information…..it's safe to say that the price tag would be significant.
I just used your low number of $2.7 million per prisoner and multiplied by 30,000. I came up with $81 billion. Is my math correct?
Your math is indeed correct! If we take the low-end estimate of $2.7 million per year to hold one prisoner at Guantanamo Bay and multiply that by 30,000, we get a total cost of $81 billion per year.
That's a staggering amount of money, and it highlights the potential cost of expanding the Guantanamo Bay detention facility to hold tens of thousands of migrants.
Of course, it's important to note that this is just a rough estimate based on available information….. But even if the cost ends up being less than $81 billion per year, it's still likely to be a significant drain on resources and raise questions about whether there are more effective and cost-efficient ways to handle migration and asylum issues.
Thanks Pi, talk later. Have a good one.
You too!
Here is an idea. We know very few migrants commit serious crimes - OH YEAH, despite the lies from the fascists, that is true. Just read this report from the right wing libertarian CATO Institute. (Musk is a libertarian).
What if we keep immigrants here to do the work that ISN’T getting done in America. It is an American tradition, after all. That’s how you and I got here.
Immigrants could be building affordable housing, improving our drinking water quality, providing day care for children and the elderly, training new immigrants in English and job skills. Oh, in case anyone forgot, they are an integral part of our food supply system. Harvesting food instead of people just makes sense to me.
But no….we will spend YOUR tax dollars to incarcerate and punish PEOPLE. Most of whom will be innocent or guilty of minor crimes - just like the native born Americans in your neighborhood. Who in fact are MORE dangerous. Again, read the literature, the studies linked below. Who should we really be afraid of?
Perhaps we don’t have an immigration problem. I think we really have an integration problem. We don’t have enough young workers. And it is an established fact that we native born Americans are not replacing ourselves. So we are crippling our society’s ability to sustain itself.
If there are some hard workers applying for jobs here - who will PAY TAXES and help support our infrastructure, fill jobs desperately needed to be filled, why are we ignoring the solution?
”As of the most recent data, the reproduction rate in the US is around 1.6 births per woman, which is considered below the replacement rate of 2.1, meaning the population is not naturally replacing itself without immigration; this rate is also considered a historic low for the country.”
Key points about the US reproduction rate:
Total Fertility Rate (TFR): Approximately 1.6 births per woman.
Replacement rate: 2.1 births per woman
Trend: Declining, with the recent data showing a drop in births compared to the previous year.
Source: Data from the CDC's National Vital Statistics System.
So…in order to maintain services like providing food and care for an aging population, I suggest we greet these immigrants with a hug. We need them. They need us.
Of course, they should be screened. Of course, violent criminals should be rejected. We have all the systems in place to do this in a sane and compassionate manner. All we need are the funds that were in a bi-partisan bill passed by the Senate but “vetoed” by someone who wasn’t president yet.
We have a problem. But instead of solving it, we are making life worse for everyone - simply for political gain. It is stupid.Oy, I need some music. Guantanamera is a song about peace and change. It’s about a “country girl from Guantanamo…she cultivates a white rose…”
Here is one that celebrates “Playing for Change” with many terrific artists.
And if you really love this song, as I do, give a listen to this old treasure:
https://www.cato.org/blog/new-research-illegal-immigration-crime-0
https://www.cato.org/blog/new-cato-research-shows-illegal-immigrants-are-less-likely-be-convicted-murder-texas
https://www.cato.org/blog/crimes-rates-are-better-way-judge-immigrant-criminality-number-crimes
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2024/20240525.htm
Outstanding tunes to close a great article. Since you started with the math I'm wondering now what would happen if we gave every non-violent incarcerated person the average cost of keeping them inside for a year and paroled them for the balance of their sentence. The same concept would work if we used the money spent on incarceration and deportation to teach and house the people who so desperately want to come here to enjoy the benefits of such freedom as we retain, but, as you pointed out, that was tried but Mikey the MAGAt buckled under pressure from Felon47 so we won't know for at least two years. While we're on the topic, we could try using the money budgeted for drug interdiction and control to treat, counsel, and otherwise support addicted users and see if the Portuguese or Dutch systems work at scale. The formerly filled prisons could be turned into solar and wind farms or substations thereby making a positive contribution to society and the environment instead of being the eyesore pollutants that they currently are.
I could not agree with you more about the need for these workers. But the people in this administration (I won’t use his name) are racists. They want white women to have more babies to deal with the coming demographic cliff. I’m glad I’m not of childbearing age.