White House weighs holding future Haitian migrants at Guantanamo facility: report

The Biden administration is considering how to respond to a potential influx of Haitian migrants, floating the possibility of holding migrants temporarily at a Guantanamo facility or in a third country, according to a report by NBC News.

The island nation of Haiti has been under intense strain amid political unrest. Last month, violent gangs blocked access to the country’s largest fuel terminal — and Haitians may make a mass exodus from the country by boat once fuel becomes accessible again, according to the report.

The White House National Security Council and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are considering what number of Haitian migrants would merit a third country holding place, and what number would merit use of Guantanamo Bay, according to NBC.

The Migrant Operations Center at the U.S. Naval base in Guantanamo Bay is separate from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, a prison opened after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

A spokesperson for the National Security Council told The Hill that no increase in Haitian maritime migration has been noted. In fact, the number of Haitian migrants interdicted at sea has been seen to decline in recent months, the spokesperson added, so no decisions have been made.

“The US government always does contingency planning out of an abundance of caution, and for a wide range of potential scenarios. These contingencies for migration existed long before the Biden-Harris Administration,” the spokesperson said.

“The United States continues to coordinate with our international partners first and foremost to support the people of Haiti and address the security and humanitarian situation in the country,” the spokesperson added.

A DHS spokesperson told NBC News that the agency is monitoring Haiti and has existing contingency plans in place for a potential surge of migrants to the U.S.

The White House and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately return requests for comment on the report.

–Updated on Oct. 31 at 1:41 p.m.

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