White House disputes reports of plans to send Haitian migrants to Guantanamo

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President Joe Biden is not sending migrants who crossed the southern border near Del Rio, Texas, to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, according to the White House.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki alleged news reports suggesting that migrants were being expelled to the U.S. naval base off the coast of Cuba were incorrect.

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“We will not. There’s never been a plan to do that,” Psaki told reporters Thursday.

The “confusion” stemmed from a public notice published last week seeking a private contractor to run the Guantanamo Migrant Operations Center, according to Psaki. The center has been “used for decades to process migrants interdicted at sea for third-country resettlement,” she said. The contract solicitation specified that “at least 10% of the augmented personnel must be fluent in Spanish and Haitian Creole.”

Haitians comprise the majority of migrants who have crossed the Rio Grande and have sheltered under the Del Rio International Bridge. The size of the temporary camp swelled to 14,000 people last week. But many of the Haitians initially fled their island home for South America after the 2010 earthquake, not after this summer’s political unrest and natural disasters.

Psaki confirmed Thursday that 1,401 Haitians had been repatriated on 12 flights since Sunday. She also defended Biden from criticism that he has not forcefully condemned photos and video footage of Border Patrol agents pursuing migrants on horseback. Horses are no longer being used for patrols, she said.

“His actions make clear how horrible and horrific he thinks these things are,” she added.

U.S. Special Envoy for Haiti Daniel Foote resigned Thursday over the administration’s “inhumane, counterproductive decision to deport thousands of Haitian refugees.”

Psaki disputed the term “deportation” since the returned Haitians had not arrived in the United States “through any legal process.” She repeated State Department Ned Price’s assertion that Foote “had ample opportunity to raise concerns about migration during his tenure.”

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“He never did so,” she said. “We have an ambassador on the ground. We have a robust presence on the ground.”

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