Guantanamo and the "criminalization" of migrants
President Trump's intention to open a detention center at the US naval base in Guantanamo has experts concerned, in a context of hostility towards migrants.
Guantanamo is not just another US naval base. Although Haitian and Cuban migrants intercepted at sea were detained there in the 1990s, its name is mainly associated with the prison set up there after the attacks of September 11, 2001, as part of the fight against terrorism.
This is one of the reasons for the impact caused by Donald Trump's order to open a center in Guantanamo to "detain the worst illegal immigrants, criminals who are a threat to the American people." According to the head of the White House, "some are so dangerous that we do not even trust their countries of origin to keep them, because we do not want them to return. So we will send them to Guantanamo," reported the news agencies.
Stephanie Brewer, director for Mexico of the Washington Office on Latin American Affairs (WOLA), speaks of a worrying "discourse of criminalization of migrants." "Given the precedent of Guantanamo, which has been associated not only with abuses and serious human rights violations against people detained in the context of counterterrorism, but also against migrants, all this puts us on alert to the possibility of prolonged, unjustified detentions in inadequate conditions and with a lack of access to due process measures," he told DW.
Ariel Duskity, a professor of human rights at the University of Texas, also observes "a context of hostility towards migrants in general." In conversation with N24I, he highlights two trends, which he believes are very dangerous. "On the one hand, there is the idea of associating migrants with crime; and on the other, something much more serious: the detention center at the Guantanamo naval base is associated with people accused of terrorism. So, migration is associated with terrorism. That is the symbolic message. Even if it is not carried out, it exacerbates the context of hostility towards migrants," she says.
In this sense, the WOLA specialist adds that "equating crossing the border without papers with violent crimes, which are the ones that are usually invoked, to give the image that practically every migrant is a danger, generates fear, xenophobia, and is a kind of misinformation."
Symbolic policy of "iron fist"
For Gabriel EcheverrÃa, a professor of migration sociology at the Complutense University of Madrid, "Trump's initiative is part of a series of strategies that the right is trying out globally, in its attempt to be tough on immigration." He notes that, from an electoral point of view, it seems to be working. "From the point of view of migration management, on the other hand, I think it is a proposal that will prove to be ineffective over time," he told N24I.
Pointing out that it remains to be seen how the US judicial system reacts, he stresses that the problem is much more complex, arguing: "Trump's proposal is to put a maximum of 30,000 migrants in Guantanamo... If we do the math and consider that there are currently an estimated 10 million irregular migrants in the United States, we realise that this operation is not going to solve the problem of irregular immigration. What it will simply do is violate the rights of these 30,000 people, use them as a scapegoat, but also as a political message." For this reason, he believes that this is a symbolic policy that attempts to divert attention.
Many legal doubts
One of the fears of human rights experts is that the affected migrants will fall into a kind of legal limbo. "In the past, it has been argued that in Guantanamo, since it is not located in the United States, all American rights and guarantees would not apply. That was one of the sources of violations of the rights of people detained in Guantanamo in other contexts," warns Stephanie Brewer. This argument refers to the fact that the Guantanamo naval base is located in territory occupied by the United States on the island of Cuba.
For his part, Ariel Duskity also adds other doubts that arise regarding respect for the presumption of innocence and due process. "There are no lawyers at the Guantanamo naval base and the restrictions on entering a naval base are much greater than in other places of detention. So, access to legal counsel will be much more difficult. All of this also makes it more difficult for the press to access and control what the conditions of detention are like," she stresses.
She also highlights another relevant point: "This is a naval base controlled by the US armed forces, not by civilian agents. It is not clear who will have control of the detention of immigrants who are sent there, so they could be under military control, even though they are civilians. That should never happen, according to international law and human rights."
Many questions remain open. Stephanie Brewer admits that she currently has "more questions than answers about what he intends and what would supposedly be the legal bases for this type of action that is completely out of the ordinary."
