On Monday, a report by the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) revealed complaints about inhumane treatment of migrants by authorities at the Migrant Operations Center in Guantanamo Bay, including inadequate healthcare, deteriorating living quarters, and limited access to confidential legal communication.
"This is in clear violation of the United States' legal commitments and a violation of core values that anyone should have and the U.S. purports to have," said Jose Miranda, a senior staff attorney at the organization who represented a Cuban family featured in the report, according to The Miami Herald.
In fact, the report when even further, questioning the existence of the facility which serves to detain refugees fleeing persecution by sea, mainly from Haiti and Cuba.
Even though a spokesperson from the Department of State refuted the report's claims and denied that the facility is a detention center at all, the damning report has compelled the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) to file a federal lawsuit on Thursday under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), seeking to disclose records about the interdiction and detention of refugees held.
"The government has kept its treatment of migrants at Guantánamo hidden in the shadows for far too long," said Wafa Junaid, Skadden Fellow with the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project. "What little we do know about the conditions at the Migrant Operations Center is alarming, and we refuse to allow the government to continue concealing its detention practices there."
Kimberly Grano, U.S. Litigation Staff Attorney at IRAP, echoed Junaid's sentiment:
"It is outrageous that the U.S. government refuses to even acknowledge the reality of refugee detention at Guantánamo Bay. We experienced the government's lack of transparency and accountability firsthand as we tried for months to get in contact with our clients, who the U.S. government itself deemed as refugees warranting humanitarian protection. The public deserves to know the truth about the government's treatment of families seeking safety."
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