Do Not Send Haitians or Other Displaced People to Detention at Guantánamo Bay
The Advocates for Human RightsNov 04, 2022
Report: White House Mulls Holding Haitian Migrants at Guantanamo Bay
Image copyright: John Moore/Staff/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Facts
According to a US official, the Biden administration is considering using the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba as a processing center for Haitian migrants, should there be a mass exodus from the gang-violence-ridden Caribbean nation.
The plan would reportedly include expanding the bay's existing migrant center, which is located 200 miles from Haiti and is separate from the military prison that holds dozens of terrorist suspects.
The Spin
Left narrative
While Biden should be welcoming all Haitians fleeing from gang violence, health crises, and poverty, he shouldn't be doing so via Guantanamo Bay. Having previously been used for anti-Black immigration schemes under presidents H.W. Bush and Clinton, Guantanamo is a place for terrorists, not refugees. The military-run detention center island also lacks sufficient access to refugee resources and rights observers. Biden should break away from America's history of racist immigration policies and bring these refugees directly, and safely, to the US.
Right narrative
Biden should, at the very least, intercept these Haitians and bring them to Guantanamo. As the 2024 election looms, the president faces a paramount decision: either treat the incoming boats of migrants the same as those coming through the land border — which has been to accept everyone — or immediately block the first wave of arrivals, thus sending a message to future migrants that the trip isn't worth it. As most Americans have now seen the failure of Biden's come-one-come-all policy, he'd best acknowledge their concerns and tighten the immigration system.
Nerd narrative
There's a 50% chance that the rate of immigration enforcement in the US in 2024, as a percentage of removals to encounters, will be at least 6%, according to the Metaculus prediction community.