Guantanamo naval base preps for Haitian migrant surge amid gang violence: SOUTHCOM general

The US military has prepared for an influx of Haitian immigrants fleeing the country that has fallen into chaos at the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to a top military official.  

Army Gen. Laura Richardson told senators that her staff has prepared for the worst-case scenario at the base, per Stars and Stripes. Previous reports suggested the Biden administration was vying to process immigrants through the base.

"Everything is refreshed — the equipment, everything is ready to go,” Richardson said in a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. “As we work through all our contingency plans, I assure you that US SOUTHCOM and the Department of Defense are ready to go." 

Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba is about 200 miles from Haiti and has an immigration processing center as well. The Biden administration has discussed whether or not to expand the facility with the expected mass migration of Haitians.  

However, GOP lawmakers have expressed concern over criminality as a potential externality of allowing many of the Haitian migrants to enter through the Biden administration's controversial "parole" system that allows Haitians as well as immigrants from other countries to come to the US and not be “formally admitted into the United States for purposes of immigration law.”  

“[Florida families] are worried about how this instability in the region — to not only include Haiti but all of [the] SOUTHCOM theater — could possibly stoke a mass migration event in my state,” Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) said about the situation.  

Over 300,000 Haitians have been displaced due to the country falling into the hands of gang violence and chaos and several Americans were trapped on the island nation.  

Cory Mills, who orchestrated a rescue mission of Americans in the country said that the Biden administration is not handling the situation with the needed attention.  

"I am proud to report that my team and I were successful in evacuating and rescuing a trapped, and at risk group of Americans from ‘Have Faith Orphanage’ in Haiti last night," Mills posted. 

"This recent mission reiterates a disturbing reality that under President Biden’s leadership American lives are continually jeopardized. I have conducted rescue/ evacs of Americans multiple times when Joe Biden has deserted them."