Washington, Feb 4 (AP) The first US military flight to deport migrants from the United States to Guantanamo Bay was set to depart Tuesday, a US official said. It is the first step in what is expected to be a surge in the number of migrants held at the Navy base in Cuba, which for decades was primarily used to detain foreigners associated with the Sept 11, 2001, attacks.

President Donald Trump has eyed the facility as a holding centre and said it has the capacity to hold as many as 30,000.

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Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was assigned to Guantanamo Bay when he was on active duty, has called it a “perfect place” to house migrants. Additional US troops have arrived at the facility in the past few days to help prepare the site.

In addition, the US flew Indian migrants back to India on Monday and that flight was still in progress as of midday Tuesday, the US official said. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public.

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There had previously been seven deportation flights, to Ecuador, Guam, Honduras and Peru. In addition, Columbian officials flew to the US and took two flights of migrants back to their country.

CNN was first to report on the flights. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)