Guantanamo to be used by US immigration to aid Haitians.
January 22 2010 by Liam Clifford
Tents and facilities set-up to potentially help Haitian refugees.
Guantanamo Bay is to be used to house possibly thousands of Haitian immigrants that were in the US at the time of the Haiti earthquake.
Tents, beds and toilets have been erected to house the possible arrivals. The plans for the island have so far not been cemented however soldiers on the floor are awaiting instructions from US immigration.
Major Diana Haynie, who works for the Joint Task Force in Guantanamo Bay who are responsible for the US immigration initiative said of the plans;
“They are a prudent measure” and at the moment “There's no indication of any mass migration from Haiti, we have not been told to conduct migrant operations."
Military personnel on the island are currently aiding the earthquake aid relief by freighting bottled water and supplies from its ware-house. Guantanamo Bay has been used as a focal point for government authorities and US immigration as it is just 200 miles from Haiti.
The refugees would be housed on the side of the island facing Haiti, 2 miles from the infamous detention centre on the opposite side - which is home to more than 200 detainees.
This isn’t the first time the island would have been used in such a way, during the 90’s thousands of Haitian refugees were temporarily housed there.
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