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Paperwork Done for Building Immigrant Facilities at US Base

by Carla Babb

   PENTAGON --

   A Pentagon spokesman told VOA on Friday that all of the paperwork had
   been completed for Goodfellow Air Force Base in Texas to start building
   detention facilities for unaccompanied minors caught illegally crossing
   the southern U.S. border, "if needed."

   That paperwork includes an environmental assessment of the base grounds
   and memorandums of understanding from both the Pentagon and the
   Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) detailing how the base
   will be used and secured, said the spokesman, Army Lieutenant Colonel
   Jamie Davis.

   Last month, HHS asked the U.S. military to prepare to shelter thousands
   of undocumented migrants, including as many as 20,000 children, while
   the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) requested the erection of
   tents at three separate facilities for up to 4,000 people.

   The Pentagon offered Goodfellow for HHS to hold unaccompanied minors
   and Fort Bliss, also in Texas, for DHS to hold detained families.

   As of June, at least 11,800 "unaccompanied minor children" were in
   custody at about 100 shelters in 14 states, according to HHS. Some of
   those were separated from their parents after the implementation of the
   Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy of detaining all
   undocumented border-crossers.

   The administration will not need Goodfellow until shelter beds are
   projected to fill up. If that happens, HHS will need to send a "letter
   of intent" to the Pentagon, which would then give the military 45 days
   to complete construction of detention facilities at Goodfellow.

   In June, U.S. Customs and Border Protection [1]reported 5,115 children
   and 28,999 adults were detained at the southern US border.

   "If HHS submits a letter of intent, that is when the facilities will be
   built, but until that happens, we won't build anything," Pentagon
   spokesman Davis told VOA.

   Carla is VOA's Pentagon correspondent covering defense and
   international security issues. Her datelines include Ukraine, Turkey,
   Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Korea.

References

   1. https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/usbp-sw-border-apprehensions