Immigration detention on United States military bases

Last updated

The United States government has detained or interned immigrants on military bases on several occasions, including as part of internment of Japanese Americans, of Italian Americans and of German Americans during World War II. In the 2010s, military bases have been used to house unaccompanied asylum seekers from Central America.

Contents

World War II internment

These camps held detainees of Japanese, German and Italian descent: [1]

Central American migrants under Obama

As part of the 2014 American immigration crisis, tens of thousands of arriving migrants were detained by the United States. From May to August 2014, the Department of Defense operated temporary detention facilities housing as many as 7,700 unaccompanied children mostly from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. [2] The children were held at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas, Fort Sill Army Base in Oklahoma and Naval Base Ventura County-Port Hueneme in California. [2]

Central American migrants under Trump

Amid the Trump administration family separation policy, the Department of Health and Human Services began discussing detaining arriving immigrant families and children on military facilities. Executive Order 13841, signed on June 20, 2018, instructs that, "The Secretary of Defense shall take all legally available measures to provide to the Secretary, upon request, any existing facilities available for the housing and care of alien families, and shall construct such facilities if necessary and consistent with law." [3] On June 21, the Department of Health and Human Services requested facilities to house migrant children. Pentagon spokesmen and a memorandum sent to Congress confirmed that the Department of Defense was preparing facilities at four military bases in Texas and Arkansas to house 20,000 "unaccompanied alien children". [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

Internment of Japanese Americans Internment of Japanese Americans in the United States

The internment of Japanese Americans in the United States during World War II was the forced relocation and incarceration in concentration camps in the western interior of the country of about 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry, most of whom lived on the Pacific Coast. Sixty-two percent of the internees were United States citizens. These actions were ordered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt shortly after Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor.

MVM, Inc. Private security contractor

MVM is a company headquartered in Ashburn, Virginia, United States. It is a private security contractor that provides security contractors, staffing, training, translation and related services to U.S. Government clients including being a contractor for detaining children who are subject to immigration proceedings.

Internment of German Americans

Internment of German resident aliens and German-American citizens occurred in the United States during the periods of World War I & World War II. During World War II, the legal basis for this detention was under Presidential Proclamation 2526, made by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt under the authority of the Alien Enemies Act.

Crystal City Internment Camp United States historic place

Crystal City Internment Camp, located near Crystal City, Texas, was a place of confinement for people of Japanese, German, and Italian descent during World War II, and has been variously described as a detention facility or a concentration camp. The camp, which was originally designed to hold 3,500 people, opened in December 1943 and was officially closed on February 11, 1948. Officially known as the Crystal City Alien Enemy Detention Facility, the camp was operated by the Immigration and Naturalization Service under the Department of Justice and was originally designed to hold Japanese families, but later held German families, as well, including many who were deported from Latin American countries to the U.S. A significant number of those incarcerated were native-born American citizens. The Crystal City Internment Camp was one of the primary confinement facilities in the United States for families during World War II.

Reno v. Flores, 507 U.S. 292 (1993), was a Supreme Court of the United States case that addressed the detention and release of unaccompanied minors.

Immigration detention in the United States

The United States government holds tens of thousands of immigrants in detention under the control of Customs and Border Protection and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Immigrants are detained for unlawful entry to the United States, when their claims for asylum are received, and in the process of deportation and removal from the country. During Fiscal Year 2018, 396,448 people were booked into ICE custody: 242,778 of whom were detained by CBP and 153,670 by ICE's own enforcement operations. A daily average of 42,188 immigrants were held by ICE in that year. In addition, over twelve thousand immigrant children are housed by facilities under the supervision of the Office of Refugee Resettlement's program for Unaccompanied Alien Children. Prior to referral to these other agencies, the CBP holds immigrants at processing centers; between mid-May and mid-June 2019, it held between 14,000 and 18,000 immigrants.

Marcelino Serna Port of Entry

The Marcelino Serna Port of Entry is a new border crossing that has replaced the Fabens Port of Entry on the U.S.-Mexico border. It opened on November 17, 2014. The new crossing is built around the Tornillo-Guadalupe Bridge about 1800 feet west of the previous two-lane Fabens–Caseta International Bridge and can accommodate vehicular, pedestrian and commercial traffic. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facility at the crossing served as the site for the Tornillo tent city, which housed as many as 2,800 detained migrant youths from June 2018 to January 2019. As of July 2019, a 2,500-bed holding facility for adult migrants is under construction at the site.

2014 American immigration crisis Surge in immigration starting in 2014 to US along southern border from countries further south than Mexico

The 2014 American immigration crisis was a surge in unaccompanied children and women from the Northern Triangle of Central America (NTCA) seeking entrance to the United States in 2014. According to U.S. law, an unaccompanied alien child refers to a person under 18 years of age, who has no lawful immigration status in the U.S., and who does not have a legal guardian to provide physical custody and care.

Trump administration family separation policy Policy intended to deter illegal immigration and to encourage tougher legislation

The Trump administration family separation policy was an aspect of US President Donald Trump's immigration policy. The policy was presented to the public as a "zero tolerance" approach intended to deter illegal immigration and to encourage tougher legislation. It was officially adopted across the entire US–Mexico border from April 2018 until June 2018. Under the policy, federal authorities separated children and infants from parents or guardians with whom they had entered the US. The adults were prosecuted and held in federal jails or deported, and the children were placed under the supervision of the US Department of Health and Human Services. In January 2020 the SPLC reported that the official government number of children separated from their parents or guardians under the policy was 4,368.

Ursula (detention center) Detention facility

Ursula is the colloquial name for the Central Processing Center, the largest U.S. Customs and Border Protection detention center for undocumented immigrants. The facility is a retrofitted warehouse that can hold more than 1,000 people. It was opened in 2014 on W. Ursula Avenue in McAllen, Texas. In June 2018, it gained notoriety for the practice of keeping children in large cages made of chain-link fencing.

Family detention is the detention of multiple family members together in an immigration detention context. In the U.S. they are referred to as family detention camps,family detention centers, or family detention facilities.

Unaccompanied Alien Children

Unaccompanied Alien Children is a United States government classification for children in immigration custody and the name of a program operated by the Office of Refugee Resettlement to house and care for them. The term designates unaccompanied minors who are aliens, typically those who have been apprehended outside of a legal port of entry or judged inadmissible upon their entry.

The Tornillo tent city was a temporary immigrant detention facility for children located in Tornillo, Texas and operated by BCFS on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement. The Department termed it an "emergency influx care facility" and named it the Tornillo Influx Facility. When it was built in June 2018, the capacity was 400 minor immigrants with a one month contract. It was later expanded to a capacity of 4,000 minors. As many as 2,800 teenagers were held at the site before its closure was announced in January 2019. This made it one of the largest facilities in ORR's Unaccompanied Alien Children Program. All immigrant children had left the facility by January 11, 2019. Nearly 6,200 minors cycled through the facility within the seven months it operated. The area was previously used for a few months in 2016 to process migrant families and unaccompanied minors.

BCFS Health and Human Services is a U.S. 501(c)(3) organization based in San Antonio, Texas, specializing in emergency shelter, foster care, and adoption. It was founded as an orphanage in 1944. By 2014, BCFS ran two large temporary detention centers and six permanent shelters for unaccompanied migrant minors. In 2015, BCFS received more funding than any other Office of Refugee Resettlement contractor and nearly a quarter of total funding designated for the unaccompanied minor's program.

Clint Station is a United States Border Patrol station and migrant detention facility located four miles north of the US–Mexico Border in Clint, Texas. The facility was opened in 2013. In 2019, as reports about poor conditions for detained migrant children became public, the detention facilities at Clint became "the public face of the chaos on America’s southern border," according to The New York Times.

Trump administration migrant detentions Policy intended to deter illegal immigration and to encourage tougher legislation

The United States has detained migrants attempting to enter the United States at the United States–Mexico border. Government reports from the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General in May 2019 and July 2019 found that migrants had been detained under conditions that failed federal standards. These conditions have included prolonged detention, overcrowding, and poor hygiene and food standards. Some American citizens were also wrongfully detained.

A timeline of events related to migrant children's detention centers in the United States

References

  1. "Japanese American Internment Camps" . Retrieved October 2, 2007.
  2. 1 2 Bohn, Kevin (August 5, 2014). "No more military housing for kids pouring over border". CNN. Retrieved 2018-06-28.
  3. "Affording Congress an Opportunity to Address Family Separation". whitehouse.gov . Retrieved 2018-06-20 via National Archives.
  4. Shear, Michael; Cooper, Helene; Benner, Kate (June 21, 2018). "U.S. Prepares to House Up to 20,000 Migrants on Military Bases". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-06-24.
  5. "Migrant Detainees to Be Housed at 2 Texas Military Bases". Military.com. 2018-06-25. Retrieved 2018-06-25.