Tlaib Leads Colleagues in Demanding Immediate, Permanent Closure of Guantánamo
WASHINGTON D.C. — Today, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (MI-12) led 15 Members of Congress in a letter to the Trump Administration calling for an immediate halt to the use of Guantánamo for migrant detention and demanding its permanent closure.
“We write to express our outrage at the ongoing and recently proposed expansion of detention of immigrants at Guantánamo Bay. For over two decades, Guantánamo Bay has been synonymous with injustice, torture, and Islamophobia. President Trump’s decision to hold thousands of immigrants—many of whom are asylum seekers and refugees—in a facility notorious for human rights abuses is morally abhorrent and unlawful,” the lawmakers wrote.
“These detention facilities at Guantánamo should have been closed years ago. It is unacceptable that not only are they still operational, but they are being repurposed for yet another generation of unjust detention. As long as the United States maintains a detention facility at Guantánamo, future administrations will continue to use it to try and deprive non-citizens of meaningful access to the courts and the full protections of U.S. and international law,” the lawmakers continued.
“We call on the administration to immediately halt the use of Guantánamo for migrant detention, close the detention facilities for good, and ensure that all detained individuals are treated with dignity, due process, and the protections guaranteed under both U.S. and international law,” the lawmakers concluded.
The letter is also signed by: Representatives Greg Casar (TX-35), Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Mark DeSaulnier (CA-10), Jesús “Chuy” García (IL-04), Jonathan Jackson (IL-01), Jim McGovern (MA-02), LaMonica McIver (NJ-10), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Delia C. Ramirez (IL-03), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Shri Thanedar (MI-13), and Paul Tonko (NY-20).
This letter is endorsed by: Center for Victims of Torture, Human Rights First, Amnesty International USA, Human Rights Watch, Center for Constitutional Rights, National Immigrant Justice Center, International Refugee Assistance Project, (IRAP) Witness Against Torture, Communities United for Status & Protection (CUSP), Defending Rights & Dissent, Al Otro Lado, Church World Service, MPower Change Action Fund, September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, American Friends Service Committee, Muslim Counterpublics Lab, Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, Muslims for Just Futures, Peace Action, National Religious Campaign Against Torture, American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, ReThinking Foreign Policy, Justice is Global, Oasis Legal Services, Immigrant Guide, Muslim Civic Coalition, Tea Project, Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), African Human Rights Coalition, Prevention at the Intersections, Sunrise Movement, UU College of Social Justice, Veterans for Peace Eisenhower Chapter 157, North Carolina Stop Torture Now, The Sikh Coalition, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, The United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society, Witness at the Border, Reprieve US, Hindus for Human Rights, Adalah Justice Project, Win Without War, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, Transgender Law Center, National Immigration Law Center, Muslim Advocates, United Church of Christ, ASATA Power, Muslim Justice League, Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement, and MADRE.
A full copy of the letter can be found here.
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