Pentagon seeks military base to house 5,000 unaccompanied children who cross US-Mexico border
By: Lolita C. Baldor, The Associated Press   17 hours ago
WASHINGTON — The Defense Department is reviewing a number of military bases to find a location that can house up to 5,000 unaccompanied migrant children as the U.S. braces for a surge of people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally this spring.
The Department of Health and Human Services submitted the request for space late last week, as Homeland Security leaders warned that tens of thousands of families are crossing the border each month. That flow, said Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, will grow worse this spring as the weather gets better.
Dyess, Goodfellow, Fort Bliss and Little Rock are locations under consideration.
By: Tara Copp, Leo Shane III
The Pentagon last summer approved the use of Goodfellow Air Force Base near San Angelo, Texas, for an HHS request to accommodate up to 20,000 children. Legal and environmental requirements were finalized, but HHS never came back with a formal request to actually use the base. Officials said that the extra spaced wasn’t needed, and there also were concerns that HHS didn’t have the money to construct needed housing and other support facilities at the base.
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2019/03/12/pentagon-seeks-military-base-to-house-5000-unaccompanied-children-who-cross-us-mexico-border/
