The big picture: Guantánamo Bay is known as the site of a controversial prison for suspected terrorism detainees, though many were later said to be innocent.
During the George H.W. Bush administration from 1991 to 1993, then-Attorney General William Barr indefinitely detained as many as 12,000 Haitian asylum seekers at an immigration facility in Guantánamo Bay.
“It’s highly concerning that the administration may be considering using Guantánamo to detain Haitian asylum-seekers or others,” said Wendy Young, president of the immigrant advocacy group Kids in Need of Defense, to NBC News. “It’s a sense of déjà vu all over again,” Young added.