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"Stain on U.S. history": Trump's atty general pick used Gitmo to hold thousands of Haitian refugees
CBS News ^ | December 10, 2018 | Kate Smith

Posted on 12/10/2018 7:27:23 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

In the 1990s, William Barr, President Trump's pick for attorney general, oversaw a program that sent some 12,000 Haitian asylum seekers to Guantanamo Bay, effectively creating what one detractor called "the world's first HIV detention camp." After operating for about 18 months, the detention system was forcibly ended by a judge in 1993, but Barr defended the practice as recently as 2001.

At the time, Barr was serving as attorney general for President George H.W. Bush, and a military coup in Haiti had led to mass executions that targeted thousands of supporters of the overthrown leader. The bloodshed sent thousands of Haitians fleeing to Florida to seek asylum.

But soon the United States Coast Guard began intercepting the boats at sea and conducting preliminary screenings of the refugees on board. Those who didn't make it past the initial interview were immediately sent back to Haiti. When that practice was challenged in court, the Coast Guard quickly ran out of room to house the would-be migrants aboard ships. Federal immigration officials, wanting to avoid an influx of thousands of Haitian refugees in the U.S., instituted a policy of shuttling them to the U.S. naval station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, rather than the States.

A return to Haiti was a near certain death sentence for many of those who fled, said Ira Kurzban, an attorney and refugees' advocate who in 1991 fought against the program. The Haitian military would regularly patrol neighborhoods on the island, "literally pulling people out their homes to execute them in the streets," Kurzban said in a telephone interview with CBS News on Friday....

(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: cbs; fakenews; haiti; trump
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Good.
1 posted on 12/10/2018 7:27:23 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Gitmo is actually more like a luxury resort hotel compared to what other countries do. I wouldn’t mind spending a week or so there.


2 posted on 12/10/2018 7:31:14 PM PST by Telepathic Intruder
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

CBS is a stain on history.


3 posted on 12/10/2018 7:33:10 PM PST by KC_Conspirator
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

So what?


4 posted on 12/10/2018 7:36:26 PM PST by wjcsux (The hyperventilating of the left means we are winning! (Tagline courtesy of Laz.))
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

So he wanted to keep Americans safe. The horror.


5 posted on 12/10/2018 7:36:32 PM PST by SoFloFreeper
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

When you read articles like this; whose source of opinion comes ONLY from far leftist, American hating, groups that support human trafficking, without even the slightest attempt to ask revealing questions, it shows how low journolism has become.


6 posted on 12/10/2018 7:38:02 PM PST by KC_Conspirator
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“according to a law paper published by Michael Ratner, the attorney who successfully fought against the HIV screening. Ratner died in 2016.”

Of AIDS?


7 posted on 12/10/2018 7:38:52 PM PST by dsc (Our system of government cannot survive one-party control of communications.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Pretty “extreme” stuff for someone connected with the Bush crowd. Maybe we’ll like this guy after all.


8 posted on 12/10/2018 7:40:13 PM PST by dowcaet
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To: Telepathic Intruder

Gitmo is actually more like a luxury resort hotel compared to what other countries do. I wouldn’t mind spending a week or so there.

...

Exactly. It was paradise compared to going back to Haiti.

This is more liberal propaganda designed to hurt morale.


9 posted on 12/10/2018 7:42:57 PM PST by Moonman62 (Give a man a fish and he'll be a Democrat. Teach a man to fish and he'll be a responsible citizen.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
In the 1990s, William Barr, President Trump's pick for attorney general, oversaw a program that sent some 12,000 Haitian asylum seekers to Guantanamo Bay, effectively creating what one detractor called "the world's first HIV detention camp."

Why, O, Why? didn't this man release those thousands of HIV-infected into the general population of the United States?

The Haitians are such fine, upstanding people, who can be rightly proud of the nation they built - a nation unsullied by the stain of "White Privilege."

Regards,

10 posted on 12/10/2018 7:43:36 PM PST by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Funny, during Bush’s funeral, the same commie media said that Bush was surrounded by the best of the best..now that Barr is being considered to be on Trump’s cabinet, all of a sudden now he is evil


11 posted on 12/10/2018 7:46:52 PM PST by Sarah Barracuda
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

They were just there until the Clintons finished building the hospital, with all the money they raised for Haiti.


12 posted on 12/10/2018 7:48:03 PM PST by mindburglar (Don't bother. I don't debate.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Good, we can put the Central American invaders there.


13 posted on 12/10/2018 7:49:34 PM PST by kaehurowing
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I haven’t read up much on Barr, but this article makes me favorably disposed to him.


14 posted on 12/10/2018 7:49:53 PM PST by SharpRightTurn (Chuck Schumer--giving pond scum everywhere a bad name.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

It’s better than the fake Haitian “refugees” being a stain on America. Just sayin’...


15 posted on 12/10/2018 7:51:20 PM PST by FlingWingFlyer (#NotARussianBot)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Sounds like the coup that ousted that communist Aristide in 1991.


16 posted on 12/10/2018 7:53:16 PM PST by RightGeek (FUBO and the donkey you rode in on)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
"Stain on U.S. history": Trump's atty general pick used Gitmo to hold thousands of Haitian refugees

Let's change that: "Stain on U.S. history": George Bush's atty general pick used Gitmo to hold thousands of Haitian refugees

Changed to demonstrate the utter hypocrisy of the left-wing media, who were full of praise for Bush 41 for most of the last 2 weeks. Why didn't they bring up that atty general pick when talking about Bush 41 the last couple of weeks? Bush 41 did a lot worse than Trump has done, and Barr hasn't done anything under Trump yet.

But, the buck stops at the Oval Office, doesn't it? Barr was working for Bush 41, so, shouldn't the liberals be blaming their latest-found-hero, Bush 41, for sending the Haitians to Guantanmo?
17 posted on 12/10/2018 7:54:11 PM PST by adorno
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Meanwhile Hillary sold the Haitians to traffickers, otherwise known as slavers.


18 posted on 12/10/2018 7:57:49 PM PST by reasonisfaith (What are the implications if the Resurrection of Christ is a true event in history?)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Under Clinton the practice continued.

Funny how they don't bring that up.

19 posted on 12/10/2018 8:06:14 PM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear (Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, and somewhere else the tea is getting cold.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
"...President Trump's pick for attorney general, oversaw a program that sent some 12,000 Haitian asylum seekers to Guantanamo Bay, effectively creating what one detractor called "the world's first HIV detention camp.""

Yikes! Even at 85 that gives me a woody...

20 posted on 12/10/2018 8:16:11 PM PST by SuperLuminal (Where is another agitator for republicanism like Sam Adams when we need him?)
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