Camp Bulkeley Camp Bulkeley is an encampment aboard United States Naval Station Guantanamo Bay . Camp Bulkeley was constructed between 1943 - 1945 . Originally , the camp was constructed to house Marines that were permanently stationed at the United States Naval Station , Guantanamo Bay . Later , the camp was named for Vice Admiral John D . Bulkeley , who was in charge of the base during 1964 , when Cuba had accused the United States of stealing water . The camp has been home to elements of Marine anti - aircraft batteries , Seabees stationed in Guantanamo Bay , and from 1962 , the United States Marine Corps took over Camp Bulkeley and used the camp continuously until 1976 . In 1976 , a permanent Marine Corps contingent was assigned to the base at a different location . The camp was marked for destruction for 1977 . Camp Bulkeley continued to be used after 1977 . Various units have occupied the camp . In 1991 , the camp was revived and drawn into the national spotlight due to a coup d ' etat in Haiti causing a large scale exodus of people . The United States Coast Guard rescued persons in International Waters and brought them to the Naval Station for processing . Rescued persons were held in locations near Camp Bulkeley . Haitian Detainees . The camp initially achieved notoriety and received world - wide attention during the early 90 ' s when a large exodus of people fleeing Haiti due to a military coup d ' etat . Rescued persons attempting to escape the military coup d ' etat were intercepted in International Waters by the United States Coast Guard . The Coast Guard would then transfer persons to Guantanamo Bay where HIV - positive refugees and asylum seekers were held during the early 1990s until the legal status of the refugees could be determined . After two years of protest , including a mention by presenters Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins during the 1993 Academy Awards the camp was declared unconstitutional by United States district court Judge Sterling Johnson Jr . . In a negotiated agreement with attorneys for the detainees , that decision was vacated and the camp was closed shortly thereafter . Following the September 30 , 1991 overthrow of democratically elected Haiti an President Jean - Bertrand Aristide in a military coup d ' etat , a large - scale exodus of Haitian boat people ensued . The United States Coast Guard rescued a total of 41 , 342 Haitians during 1991 and 1992 , more than the number of rescued refugees from the previous 10 years combined . Just days after the coup d ' état , the administration of US President George H . W . Bush ordered the Coast Guard to stop bringing fleeing Haitians to the US , and instead to redirect their boats to the US military base at Guantanamo . There , the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service ( INS ) ruled that more than half of these refugees were economic migrants , not political refugees , and had them deported back to Haiti . Others were deemed political refugees , but before being allowed entry to the United States , the INS tested them for HIV . Those who tested positive were denied entry under a 1987 law barring emigration of HIV positive individuals into the US . In all , 267 Haitian refugees were held at Guantanamo , making Camp Bulkeley the world ' s first detention center for people with HIV / AIDS . The creation of the " Guantanamo HIV Camp , " as it was commonly known , infuriated AIDS activists in the United States , who immediately began protesting against it and the Bush administration . During his 1992 presidential campaign , Bill Clinton declared the camp inhumane and illegal , but upon becoming President , his administration took no steps to close the camp . On January 29 , 1993 , the detainees - many having spent a year and a half at Camp Bulkeley - went on a hunger strike . Yale Law School students , who had helped file legal challenges to the policy of holding HIV + refugees at Camp Bulkeley , joined the hunger strike in solidarity . After one week , the Yale students " passed " the hunger strike to students at Harvard , who in turn passed the strike to students at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor . Hunger strikes , rallies and protests were organized on college campuses around the country , with tens of thousands of students participating . These protests , in conjunction with Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins using their appearance on the 1993 Academy Awards broadcast to bring attention to the refugees ' situation , brought increasing political pressure on the Clinton administration to close the camp . On June 8 , 1993 , US district court Judge Sterling Johnson Jr . declared the camps unconstitutional in a scathing judicial opinion . " The Haitians ' plight is a tragedy of immense proportion , and their continued detainment is totally unacceptable to this court , " he wrote { Haitian Ctrs . Council v . Sale , 823 F . Supp . 1028 , 1045 - Note , however , that this decision was vacated by the Supreme Court ' s subsequent review , at 509 U . S . 155 } . The Clinton administration negotiated an agreement where that decision was vacated , and the refugees were allowed to enter the United States . By June 18 , all the refugees had been relocated to New York or Miami and the camp was closed . According to a 2003 article in the magazine The Nation , many of the HIV + refugees held at Camp Bulkeley still have not had their asylum applications processed . Refugees not eventually granted asylum may be forcibly deported to Haiti , over a decade after first arriving at Guantanamo . References . Storming the Court : How a Band of Law Students Fought the President — and Won http : / / www . amazon . com / Storming - Court - Students - Fought - President / dp / 1416535155 / ref = pd _ bbs _ sr _ 1 ? ie = UTF8 & s = books & qid = 1234411478 & sr = 8 - 1 Haitian Ctrs . Council v . Sale , 823 F . Supp . 1028