The Pentagon approved the first of what is expected to be a series of requests to house migrant children at military bases across the nation, granting the Department of Health and Human Services access in Texas to dormitories and vacant land to construct temporary housing, while legislators in other states under consideration are already raising concerns.
HHS had been conducting site visits for a number of weeks at bases in Virginia and Texas, but it did not take DOD more than a few hours to approve a request on Tuesday. The use of military bases to house unaccompanied migrants is not without precedent, with several bases across the South used under the Obama and Trump administrations. The border surge now facing the Biden administration, however, challenges HHS and DOD to quickly ramp up facilities as thousands of migrants head north.
“Today, the Department of Defense approved a request for assistance from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to temporarily house unaccompanied migrant children at a vacant dormitory at Joint Base San Antonio – Lackland, Texas, and an area of land on Fort Bliss, Texas, to construct suitable temporary housing facility,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement released late Wednesday.
HHS SEEKS TO HOUSE MIGRANT CHILDREN AT THREE US MILITARY BASES
HHS will be immediately granted access to the facilities to prepare for the arrival of the unaccompanied migrant children. DOD is expected to provide access and facilitate contractual support on a fully-reimbursable basis. Kirby said the HHS use of the military grounds will not affect military training, operations, or readiness.
“HHS will maintain custody and responsibility for the well-being and support for these children at all times on the installation,” he added.
Earlier in the day, the spokesman told journalists he expected an answer within “days, not weeks,” and the day before, he said such decisions were not given a “rubber stamp.” However, the quickness with which DOD acted may be a sign of the urgency to respond to the latest border surge.
DOD also confirmed earlier in the day that HHS conducted a site visit at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado, indicating that states further afield are now under consideration for housing migrants. The Pentagon said a site visit to Fort Lee in Virginia had found the installation unfit to meet current HHS needs.
“It is truly disturbing that the Biden administration would entertain the possibility of using Peterson Air Force Base,” Colorado Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn, who represents the district with Peterson, told the Washington Examiner Thursday.
“Peterson is critical to our national security and is home to both Space Command and Northern Command — defense entities with can’t-fail missions that occur daily,” he said. “The president is directly responsible for this crisis, and his actions have encouraged illegal aliens to race to our border.”
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The Pentagon declined to disclose the number of migrants HHS seeks to house, while HHS did not respond to multiple inquiries from the Washington Examiner.
In 2014, the Obama administration reportedly housed some 7,000 children on military bases in Oklahoma, Texas, and California. Four years later, the Trump administration prepared beds for some 20,000 unaccompanied children on bases in Texas and Arkansas.
