Sources have informed NBC News that the Trump administration has successfully transported all migrants previously held at Guantánamo Bay out of the facility.

In response to a legal challenge, the administration revealed that there were 178 Venezuelan migrants in custody at Guantánamo Bay as of early Thursday.

A senior official from the Department of Homeland Security confirmed to NBC News that 177 of those migrants were deported on Thursday, while the remaining individual was relocated to a detention facility within the United States.

On the same day, Honduras’ foreign ministry announced it had received a flight carrying 174 Venezuelan migrants from the U.S., who would be sent back to Venezuela immediately.

The official suggested that the difference in numbers reported by the U.S. and Honduras may simply indicate a minor discrepancy.

Honduras’ foreign minister shared a photo of the aircraft used for transporting the migrants, which matched the flight details indicating a journey from Guantánamo to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on Thursday, as reported by FlightRadar24.com.

The Trump administration had previously emphasized that it would be relocating only the “worst of the worst” migrants to Guantánamo.

According to the senior DHS official, plans are underway to transfer additional migrants to Guantánamo, which is being designated as a “staging area” for their resettlement to other nations. However, two sources indicated that DHS has requested the Department of Defense to explore alternative locations, including sites such as Fort Bliss in Texas.

This recent deportation raises significant questions regarding the rights of immigrants once they are in custody at Guantánamo Bay. Lawyers advocating for immigrant rights filed a lawsuit demanding in-person access to detainees and a notification period of 72 hours prior to any flights departing from or arriving at Guantánamo.

In its defense, Justice Department attorneys representing the Trump administration contended that migrants can request telephone consultations with lawyers and argued that it is not within the DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s authority to mandate advance notice of departures. They also claimed that the administration could detain immigrants at Guantánamo for longer than six months, despite previous court mandates prohibiting detention in ICE facilities for more than six months and stressing that detention conditions should not be punitive.

Lee Gelernt, the lead attorney for the ACLU involved in the lawsuit against the Trump administration, stated, “We will need to ensure that telephonic access is meaningful and pursue in-person access where necessary.”

He added, “It’s quite ironic that they are now asserting there is phone access, yet it seems our clients have already been removed.”

In its lawsuit response revealing the count of 178 migrants at Guantánamo Bay, the Trump administration also specified where individuals were housed, with 127 kept in Camp VI, a high-security facility designated for those accused of terrorism, and another 51 detained at the Migrant Operation Center, which was previously used for migrants intercepted at sea.