(TNND) — Troops began arriving at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba Sunday as the Trump administration takes the next steps in its plan for mass deportations of criminal migrants.

The White House announced the arrival of the forces on Instagram stating, "U.S. Marines have arrived at Guantanamo Bay to support the Department of Defense and Homeland Security in expanding the Migrant Operations Center—advancing President Trump’s mission to protect Americans and secure our nation."

Those deployed to Cuba include Marines with 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2d Marine Division and elements from U.S. Southern Command, and U.S. Army South.

President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that as many as 30,000 criminal migrants will be sent to the naval base. He said the decision was due to a lack of confidence in other countries’ ability to detain the individuals.

Some of them are so bad we don't even trust the countries to hold them, because we don't want them coming back, so we're gonna send them out to Guantanamo. This will double our capacity immediately, right? And tough. That's a tough, that's a tough place to get out of," he said.

More than 150 service members are at the installation supporting the "illegal alien holding operations."

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem explained during an interview with Fox News that the facility will not take long to prepare for the migrants' arrivals.

Acting Secretary of Defense Robert Salesses said in January the Department of Defense (DOD) would send 1,500 service members, as well as “air and intelligence assets,” to the southern border to add to the troops already conducting “enforcement operations” there.

As of Saturday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have totaled more than 7,400 arrests and deportations across several states.

Guantanamo Bay has been used to house detainees from the U.S. war on terrorism.

During the Biden Administration, Guantanamo Bay got down to just 15 detainees after 11 were transferred out and sent to Oman, a long-time U.S. ally in the Middle East.

In 2009, President Barack Obama promised to close the prison and signed an Executive Order as soon as he took office.