WASHINGTON: The first US flights carrying detained migrants to America´s notorious Guantanamo military base in Cuba were underway on Tuesday as President Donald Trump´s administration cracks down on illegal migration, the White House said.

Guantanamo is primarily known as a detention centre for suspects accused of terrorism-related offenses, but the base also has a history of being used to hold migrants, and Trump last week ordered the preparation of a 30,000-person “migrant facility” there.

“Today, the first flights from the United Stateas to Guantanamo Bay with illegal migrants are underway,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Fox Business. Trump has launched what his second administration is casting as a major effort to combat illegal migration, trumpeting immigration raids, arrests and deportations on military aircraft.

The president has made the issue a priority on the international stage as well, threatening Colombia with sanctions and massive tariffs for turning back two planeloads of deportees.

According to US Southern Command, there are some 300 American military personnel at Guantanamo supporting “illegal alien holding operations.”