Three Republican lawmakers are calling on the Department of Homeland Security not to use a former jobs center in Arkansas as a place to house illegal immigrants.
“The Department of Health and Human Services should not use the Ouachita facility to shelter unaccompanied illegal immigrant minors,” Arkansas Sens. Tom Cotton and John Boozman said in a joint statement, along with Rep. Bruce Westerman.
“This is irresponsible and against the wishes of Arkansans who were not consulted about this decision,” they said. “HHS is unable to provide basic information about who may reside at this facility, where these immigrants come from, or how long this shelter will last, and the potential risk to public safety is enormous.”
The Department of Homeland Security has been looking for temporary housing facilities to hold the wave of illegal immigrants flooding over the southwestern U.S. border.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has built two temporary facilities in Texas, which each hold 500 people.
Last week, DHS announced that it has deployed another 150 border agents to deal with the record-high flow of people over the last few months.
Illegal immigrants hit a record high in November, and fiscal year 2017 is on track to exceed the number of immigrants who crossed the border in the crisis year of 2014.
