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DHS Looks to Expand Immigrant Detention at Guantánamo as Humanitarian Crisis at Border Grows

HeadlineSep 23, 2021

Immigrant rights advocates are blasting the Biden administration over reports it’s looking for a contractor to run an immigrant detention facility at Guantánamo Bay’s U.S. naval base. Homeland Security is reportedly seeking security guards who speak Spanish and Haitian Creole. The DHS told reporters the Biden administration will not send Haitian asylum seekers from the southern border to the facility. Migrants apprehended at sea have been temporarily held at Guantánamo Bay in the past.

This comes as deportation flights continue to expel Haitian asylum seekers from the U.S. without due process, under Title 42. The Biden administration is challenging a court order which is set to halt the Trump-era policy at the end of the month. Hundreds of Haitians who crossed the border have also chosen to leave unsafe conditions and return to Mexico.

Nadia: “I feel disappointed, because we crossed over to the U.S., and it wasn’t what we expected. They were very mean to us. Just imagine, they treated us like we were trash. They didn’t give us food or water. There’s no doctors — nothing — a lot of children, pregnant women. Things are really hard for us.”

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