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Pentagon Confirms Plan To House Immigrants On Two Military Bases

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

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The U.S. military is moving forward with plans to open two military bases as temporary housing for immigrants, Secretary of Defense James Mattis told reporters Sunday.

“The details are being worked out … about exactly how much capacity they need at the two bases, what other kinds of facilities they need built,” Mattis said, according to a Reuters report.

Mattis said the military’s involvement in the administration’s immigration policy is appropriate in terms of logistical support to the Department of Homeland Security, which deals with immigration.

Mattis didn’t say how many people would be housed on the bases, or if it would be children or families; however, the Pentagon announced on June 21 that it was preparing to house as many as 20,000 unaccompanied migrant children.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order to end family separations on June 20. Mattis told reporters before Trump signed the order that the military would accommodate children apprehended at the border, and that the military has taken similar actions before. (RELATED: Mattis: Military Has Housed Immigrant Children Before And Will Do It Again If Asked)

“We have housed refugees, we have housed people thrown out of their homes by earthquakes and hurricanes, we do what is ever in the best interest of the country,” he said.

The administration has chosen Goodfellow Air Force Base and Fort Bliss Army base, both in Texas, to temporarily house the immigrants, Mattis announced Monday.

This post has been updated to include the bases chosen to house immigrants. 

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