The Donald Trump administration is considering using the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, which exclusively holds people accused of terrorism, as a detention facility for illegal immigrants, Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noem announced.

“We’re looking at the situation and we’re discussing it right now, she told Fox News, noting that it was up to “the president” to make the decision.

The prison “is a Τrump card, and we will continue to look at how we use all of our Τrump cards to guarantee America’s security,” he added.

In the run-up to the election, Donald Trump denounced the invasion of illegal immigrants who are “polluting the blood” of the US and causing a crime wave, but this is not borne out by official statistics.

The Guantanamo Bay prison was established in 2002 inside the US military base in Cuba as part of the “war on terror” declared by then-President George W. Bush after the attacks of 11 September 2001.

Hundreds of people were detained there, including some members of al-Qaeda, but the conditions of detention and alleged torture sparked intense political controversy. Democratic former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden expressed their intention to close it, but failed to do so.

Last September, the New York Times revealed government documents showing that for decades Guantanamo Bay has been used by the US to detain some migrants found at sea. The migrants are held in a different facility from those who have been charged with terrorism.