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 initially achieved notoriety and received worldwide attention during the early 1990s 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.
[1] After two years of protest, including a mention by presenters Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins during the 1993 Academy Awards [citation needed] the camp was declared unconstitutional by United States district court Judge Sterling Johnson Jr.[citation needed] In a negotiated agreement with attorneys for the detainees, that decision was vacated and the camp was closed shortly thereafter.
[citation needed] 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.
[citation needed] 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.
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.
[citation needed] On 8 June 1993, US district court Judge Sterling Johnson Jr. declared the camps unconstitutional in a scathing judicial opinion.