A Brief History of Military Assistance in Immigration Enforcement
Logistical support — and detention
By Andrew R. Arthur on December 12, 2024
President-Elect Donald Trump has indicated there will be a role for the U.S. military in his immigration-enforcement plans. What role the military will play, if any, is unclear however, but it should be noted that military assets have been used at various times under each of the past eight administrations.
Guantanamo detention
Tents housing illegal aliens at Guantanamo Bay in the 1990s. Photo from the U.S. Navy Seabee Museum.
Migrant Detentions During and After the Mariel Boatlift and Haitian Coup. As the Congressional Research Service (CRS) has reported, military installations were used for detention during and after both the 1980 Mariel Boatlift and the September 1991 overthrow of Haitian President Jean-Betrand Aristide in a military coup:
Starting in April 1980, Eglin Air Force Base, FL, Fort Indiantown Gap, PA, Fort McCoy, WI, and Fort Chaffee, AR, were used as refugee resettlement centers to house an influx of Cuban refugees who arrived in the United States via the “Mariel Boatlift.” By October 1980, Eglin Air Force Base, Fort Indiantown Gap, and Fort McCoy were closed and their remaining refugees were transferred to Fort Chaffee. Fort Chaffee housed 25,390 refugees, of whom about 5,800 had been transferred from Fort McCoy, Eglin Air Force Base, and Fort Indiantown Gap. The refugee center at Fort Chaffee closed in February 1982.
. . .
In 1991, the United States opened a refugee center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for Haitians fleeing their country by boat in the aftermath of a coup. At one point, nearly 13,000 Haitians were housed there. The refugee center closed in July 1993 but it was reopened in June 1994 to again house Haitian refugees fleeing their country. In August 1994, the United States reversed a previous policy allowing Cuban refugees into the United States and required instead that they be brought to Guantanamo Bay. Approximately 12,000 Haitians and 33,000 Cubans were housed at Guantanamo Bay in September of 1994. The refugee camp closed in February 1996.
https://cis.org/Arthur/Brief-History-Military-Assistance-Immigration-Enforcement
