The Trump administration might use military bases to house immigrant minors who arrive at the border without an adult or who have been forcibly separated from their families by the government, the Washington Post reports.
This comes about a month after 100,000 people who crossed the border illegally were arrested by United States border agents in April and May — the highest number per month during Trump’s presidency so far, according to the Washington Post. This also indicates that the Trump administration seems to be moving forward with plans to separate families when they cross the border illegally.
Separating children from their families is controversial, but Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen defended the policy of separating more families when she testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on May 15, USA Today reports.
Tearing children away from their parents? Detaining them on military bases? This is unconscionable. https://t.co/fLcyFClFHk
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) May 17, 2018
She acknowledged that more should be done to protect these children, and also denied that Trump wanted to use these separations to discourage people from crossing the border illegally, according to USA Today.
The Washington Post reports that the Department of Health and Human Services will visit military bases in Texas and Arkansas in the next weeks to assess whether they can accommodate children. However, they report that no decisions have been made.
According to CNN, HHS released the following statement: “The Office of Refugee Resettlement at HHS’ Administration for Children and Families is responsible and required to care for minors who are in the country illegally without a parent or guardian. Operating this program requires routinely evaluating the needs and capacity of an existing network of approximately 100 shelters in 14 states. Additional properties with existing infrastructure are routinely being identified and evaluated by federal agencies as potential locations for temporary sheltering.”
Homeland Security officials are struggling to deal with this change in who’s illegally crossing the border; while the majority used to be single men, now many are families with children, according to the Washington Post.
Military bases have housed migrant children before. The Washington Post reports that more than 7,000 children were housed in military bases under the Obama administration during the 2014 child migration crisis.