Unfinished business at Guantanamo Bay

Published September 20, 2026 7:05am ET



The most infamous detention facility on the globe is still open, now 25 years after the event that precipitated its necessity. There’s no end in sight until the remaining prisoners die, or by an act of a future Congress and president.

Approximately 780 men have been or are detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, during the nearly 25 years it has been open, and only 15 remain, almost a quarter-century after its creation in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, which claimed nearly 3,000 lives. All 15 of them have been detained at Guantanamo Bay since at least 2008, three of whom arrived in 2002, the year it opened.

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