Rights groups demand end to asylum seeker detentions in Guantanamo

US cannot support hiding its ‘mistreatment of asylum seekers by exiling them,’ says missive signed by 125 organisations.

Dozens of rights groups person urged the United States authorities to halt holding asylum seekers astatine a detention installation astatine its Guantanamo Bay subject basal successful Cuba, claiming its conditions are amerciable and inhumane.

The conjugation of 125 rights organisations, led by the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) and Haitian Bridge Alliance, made their plea connected Wednesday successful an unfastened letter to US President Joe Biden.

“We request that your medication adjacent the Guantanamo Migrant Operations Center (MOC) and process asylum seekers encountered astatine oversea successful a mode accordant with US quality rights obligations,” the missive stated.

“The US authorities cannot proceed to fell its diversion and mistreatment of asylum seekers by exiling them to Guantanamo, retired of scope of their families, advocates, nationalist consciousness – and the law,” it added.

The groups besides called connected the US authorities to halt intercepting sea-bound migrants from Haiti and sending them backmost to “war-like” conditions successful their country, a destiny shared by hundreds of unaccompanied children betwixt 2021 and 2023, according to a ProPublica investigation.

“All forced returns of radical to Haiti, by aerial oregon by sea, indispensable extremity now,” said Guerline Jozef, enforcement manager of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, which signed the unfastened letter.

The US attraction of sea-travelling migrants, including interdicting them and keeping them successful Guantanamo, has drawn caller scrutiny pursuing a study published successful September by the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP).

The study alleges asylum seekers are subjected to inadequate, “prison similar conditions” successful Guantanamo, wherever determination is “little to nary transparency oregon accountability”.

According to erstwhile MOC unit cited by the IRAP report, detained migrants are denied backstage calls and “punished” if they kick of mistreatment. Traumatised children are deprived of acquisition oregon nonrecreational psychiatric treatment, they say.

The US State Department denied the report’s conclusions, telling the Miami Herald that the Guantanamo installation is “humanitarian” and that radical wrong it are not detained due to the fact that “they tin spell to places similar the base’s market store”.

A radical of migrant radical effort to transverse a barbed ligament obstruction to scope the US side, arsenic seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico connected March 20, 2024. [Herika MARTINEZ / AFP]

‘It should not beryllium a decease sentence’

Immigration and borderline information person go hot-button issues starring into the November 5 elections, with some statesmanlike candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris pressing for much borderline checks and deportations.

While migration roseate to grounds levels nether the tenure of US President Joe Biden – an contented seized connected by Trump – the Biden medication introduced caller asylum restrictions implicit the summer, causing irregular crossings from Mexico to driblet to their lowest levels successful years.

Border decease rise

Migrants trying to transverse by ft into the US look a deadlier travel than ever before, according to The Associated Press.

In the past year, 10 times much migrants died trekking into New Mexico than successful the erstwhile 3 years, AP reported, citing information from the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator. Smugglers often pb migrants into rugged terrain successful utmost temperatures, contributing to the emergence successful deaths.

“It should not beryllium a decease condemnation to travel to the United States,” said Sheriff’s Major Jon Day, with New Mexico’s Dona Ana County, astatine a caller assemblage gathering. “And erstwhile we propulsion them into the godforsaken areas here, they’re coming crossed and they’re dying.”