But a move to house tens of thousands of migrants at the base would again widen the Pentagon's role in Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration.
"Today I'm ... signing an executive order to instruct the Departments of Defence and Homeland Security to begin preparing the 30,000-person migrant facility at Guantanamo Bay," Trump said at the White House on Wednesday (local time).
Trump said the facility would be used to "detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people".
Donald Trump has signed the Laken Riley Act, which will allow the pre-trial detention of undocumented migrants charged with theft and violent crime.
Source: AAP, SIPA USA / Jim Lo Scalzo Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has sharply rebuked Trump's plans for Guantanamo Bay.
The detention facility at Guantanamo Bay was set up in 2002 by then-president George W Bush to detain foreign militant suspects following the September 11 attacks on the US in 2001.
Pro-refugee groups have called for the Guantanamo migrant facility to be closed and for Congress to investigate alleged abuses there. »