Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced this week that Indiana’s Camp Atterbury and New Jersey’s Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst will be used to temporarily house illegal immigrants prior to their deportation.
In a memo sent to Rep. Herb Conaway, D-N.J., the House Committee on Armed Services and other members of Congress, Hegseth said the locations would be used for “temporary use by the Department of Homeland Security [DHS] to house illegal aliens.”
The announcement brought immediate rebuke from Democrats who have opposed the administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration. The letter did not specify how many migrants would be housed and did it give a date for when the facilities would be ready to receive individuals. In a statement to The Hill, the Department of Defense said, “The timeline for these facilities will depend on operational requirements and coordination with DHS.”
Camp Atterbury, located about 40 miles south of Indianapolis, is a 34,000-acre federally owned facility that is licensed to and operated by the Indiana National Guard. Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst is located 18 miles south of Trenton, has roughly 42,000 acres, and includes units from all of the armed forces branches. Both camps will be “soft-sided holding facilities,” similar to those at Alligator Alcatraz in Florida, with tent-like walls and fencing inside to surround the beds. Democrats from the affected states decried the move calling it “a dark time” in American history.
Rep. André Carson, D-Ind., put out an official statement saying, “ICE is ripping families apart for offenses as minor as traffic tickets, and others are detained without having committed any crime at all.
"The fact that ICE has detained so many individuals that they now need to expand detention space in Indiana is disturbing. Without due process, anyone and everyone is at risk, including US citizens. This is a dark time for our nation. I will continue fighting these unlawful, cruel policies and will actively monitor activities at Camp Atterbury to ensure humane and sanitary conditions.”
New Jersey Democrats put out a collective statement condemning the action saying, “This is an inappropriate use of our national defense system and militarizes a radical immigration policy that has resulted in the inhumane treatment of undocumented immigrants and unlawful deportation of U.S. citizens, including children, across the country.”