"Rebekah Stewart, a nurse at the U.S. Public Health Service, got a call last April that brought her to tears. She had been selected for deployment to the Trump administration's new immigration detention operation at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. This posting combined Donald Trump's longtime passion to use the offshore base to move "some bad dudes" out of the United States with a promise made shortly after his inauguration last year to hold thousands of noncitizens there."
""Deployments are typically not something you can say no to," Stewart said. She pleaded with the coordinating office, which found another nurse to go in her place. Other public health officers who worked at Guantánamo in the past year described conditions there for the detainees, some of whom learned they were in Cuba from the nurses and doctors sent to care for them."
"They treated immigrants detained in a dark prison called Camp 6, where no sunlight filters in, said the officers, whom KFF Health News agreed not to name because they fear retaliation for speaking publicly. It previously held people with suspected ties to al-Qaida. The officers said they were not briefed ahead of time on the details of their potential duties at the base."
Uniformed officers of the U.S. Public Health Service were tapped to deploy to a new immigration detention operation at Guantánamo Bay tied to the Trump administration's plan to hold thousands of noncitizens. A nurse selected for deployment, Rebekah Stewart, protested and was replaced. Officers who worked at Guantánamo reported treating immigrants held in Camp 6, a dark facility where some detainees learned they were in Cuba only from medical staff. Officers said they received no advance briefings about duties. Guantánamo has a history of post-9/11 torture allegations. The Public Health Service often fills government health staffing gaps during emergencies.
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