Friend,
In the latest chapter in a long history of anti-Black racism in U.S. immigration policy, the Biden administration is reportedly proposing to detain Haitian asylum seekers at Guantánamo Bay — a place notoriously associated with war crimes and torture in the post-9/11 era.
At a time of escalating violence and crises in Haiti, the Biden administration is doubling down on detention and deportation to punish, rather than protect, Haitians seeking safety.
This proposal threatens to further a disturbing history of violence towards Haiti and its people. Going as far back as the 1970s, the United States has enacted economic and militaristic policies which largely led to the current state of poverty and political instability in Haiti. More recently, in the 1990s, the U.S. government used Guantánamo as a makeshift prison camp to detain thousands of Haitians in deplorable conditions indefinitely.
Friend, we cannot allow history to repeat itself. Join us in calling on the Biden administration to reverse course on its reported plans to detain Haitian migrants at Guantánamo today. Send an email to POTUS now >>>
The administration has already mobilized the U.S. Coast Guard to intercept Haitian migrants at sea and return them back to Haiti, where they face indefinite detention in Haiti’s National Penitentiary.
Along with dozens of organizations, led by the Haitian Bridge Alliance, we are urging the administration to reverse its plans to hold Haitian asylum seekers in any offshore detention sites, including Guantánamo, and we need your help to amplify our call.
Add your voice to our rallying cry to provide safe pathways to protection for Haitian migrants. Send an urgent email to the Biden administration today >>>
The ability to seek asylum is a legal right in the United States for people of all races. We must push back against this punitive proposal which is so clearly rooted in anti-Blackness.
In solidarity,
Lisa Graybill
Vice President, Law & Policy
National Immigration Law Center
P.S. Are you interested in learning more about President Biden's reported plans to detain Haitian migrants at Guantánamo? Read our blog post on this topic here >>>
