Pete Hegseth confirms 'worst of the worst' criminal migrants will be sent to Guantanamo Bay

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth confirmed that the "worst of the worst" criminal migrants will be temporarily housed at Guantanamo Bay detention camp and that "all options will be on the table" for military action against the cartels, in an interview with "Fox and Friends" on Friday.

This confirmation comes on the heels of an announcement made by President Donald Trump on Wednesday that he will be instructing the Pentagon to prepare Guantanamo Bay to detain 30,000 "criminal illegal aliens."

"Today I'm also signing an executive order to instruct the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to begin preparing the 30,000-person migrant facility at Guantanamo Bay," Trump said. "Most people don't even know about it."

It was later learned that Trump signed a presidential memorandum, not an executive order, on the matter.

TRUMP MOVES TO PREPARE GUANTANAMO BAY FOR 30,000 'CRIMINAL ILLEGAL ALIENS'

"Guantanamo Bay is a perfect transit point to temporarily house the worst of the worst until we move them back to their home countries, who, as President Trump has made it very clear, better be prepared to take them robustly and soon," Hegseth told "Fox and Friends," adding, "Because they sent them here, sent criminals, opened their jails. It affected our people. The president is reversing that. Guantanamo Bay will be a part of that."

When asked by Fox News' Brian Kilmeade whether he would use the U.S. military to combat the cartels, two of which have recently been designated as terrorist groups by the U.S., Hegseth replied, "I don't want to get ahead of the president and I won't, but that's ultimately going to be his decision. But let me be clear. All options will be on the table if we're dealing with what are designated to be foreign terrorist organizations who are specifically targeting Americans on our border. And we're finally securing our border."

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In the last week, the Department of Homeland Security said that "law enforcement officials have removed and returned 7,300 illegal aliens."

Fox News Digital's Greg Wehner and Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.