The United States uses Guantánamo to assess the potential arrival of Haitian migrants

(CNN) — President Joe Biden’s administration is evaluating the possibility of using Guantanamo Bay to process potential Haitian migrants amid concerns about a mass exodus amid a wave of widespread violence in the country, according to a US official.

For years, Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, located about 320 kilometers from Haiti, has housed immigration centers to receive and process them before returning them to their home nation or a third country.

The facility – which is separate from the one where terrorism suspects are held – has been used before. In 2010, for example, the United States Army prepared a site to anticipate Haitians fleeing the earthquake-stricken country.

However, negotiations to expand the capacity of the facility at Guantanamo are the latest sign of growing concern in the Biden administration over the mass flight of Haitians, when gangs attack government structures and the social order is on the verge of collapse.

Haitian migrants are likely to try to reach Florida by sea in a potentially dangerous journey. In this sense, the United States is analyzing plans to take those detained at sea to Guantanamo for processing and possible repatriation.

“We know that economic, political and security instability is a major factor for migrants around the world. We are closely monitoring the situation and the routes migrants often use to reach our borders and, at this time, irregular migration flows from the Caribbean. Stay low,” a National Security Council spokesman told CNN.

(Credit: Richard Pierin/AFP via Getty Images)

For its part, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (NHS) said that, so far, migration from the Caribbean has been low.

“DHS is monitoring the situation in Haiti and coordinating closely with the State Department and international partners. At this time, the flow of irregular migration from the Caribbean remains low,” the spokesperson emphasized.

“Individuals intercepted at sea are eligible for immediate repatriation in accordance with our longstanding policy and procedures. The United States returns or deports migrants intercepted at sea to the Bahamas, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti,” the official added.

CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.

Haiti’s government is in a state of emergency after criminal gangs attacked the country’s largest prison in Port-au-Prince earlier this month, killing and injuring police and prison staff. About 3,500 prisoners escaped due to the incidents.

Gangs now control 80% of Haiti’s capital, according to United Nations estimates. The chaos has forced thousands of people to flee their homes, adding to the more than 300,000 people already displaced by gang violence.

As the situation in Haiti worsened, the United States deployed a Marine Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team (FAST) to that country to support the security of the US Embassy in Port-au-Prince. weekend

And earlier this week, Haiti’s embattled Prime Minister Ariel Henry said he would resign, paving the way for a political transition in the country that the United States, among others, had pushed for.

However, amid the uncertainty in Haiti, Biden administration officials are preparing for a major migration event at a time when federal resources are already stretched thin, and key immigration agencies are underfunded.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), for example, developed contingency plans to reduce detention capacity and release thousands of immigrants until they received additional funding. They will likely have to provide personnel already diverted to support the US southern border.

The Department of Homeland Security is dusting off plans for mass evacuation cases, as it has done previously with Haiti, including in 2022, when the country’s population was intercepted at sea.

On Tuesday, Defense Department and military officials told Congress that the department is “taking a number of steps to ensure that we are tracking” potential mass migration from Haiti.

“I think we have to be prepared for what you’re talking about. And that’s exactly what I’ve asked to increase the capacity to do. And we’re ready if there is a mass evacuation. A mass evacuation. The commander of the U.S. Southern Command “Last summer we conducted a full review of our contingency plan at Guantanamo with all interagency agencies and all of my elements,” Gen. Laura Richardson told lawmakers.

People flee their homes as police clash with armed gangs in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on February 29, 2024. (Ralph Teddy Errol/Reuters)

Rebecca Zimmerman, an official who serves as the undersecretary for national defense and hemispheric affairs, said that so far, the administration has “not yet seen large numbers of what we would characterize as mass sea migration.”

Maritime migration presents its own challenges and includes the air and sea operations of United States Customs and Border Protection, the Border Patrol, and the Coast Guard, which coordinate to intercept migrants who often make temporary day trips. boat

Agencies collaborate to identify and intercept migrants so they can be repatriated. If migrants reach land, they are taken into Border Patrol custody.

The US Border officials in South Florida are closely monitoring the situation in Haiti and preparing for an influx of Haitians, according to a Customs and Border Protection official. In the past, more than 100 people boarded the boat to undertake the dangerous sea journey.

The Department of Homeland Security’s immigration agencies continue to face budget shortfalls in the absence of supplemental funding. Last year, the White House asked Congress for about $14 billion in additional funding to secure the US-Mexico border, as part of a broader national security supplemental request.

President Biden has repeatedly urged lawmakers to pass the bill, but has faced challenges in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. However, the petition has stalled in Congress.

CNN’s Haley Britzky contributed to this report