Lawmakers slam plan to use Bay Area military site for immigration detention facility

U S Representatives John Garamendi and Mike Thompson escalated their opposition to the Trump Administration s announced plan to place an immigration detention facility at Travis Air Force Base sending a joint letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hesgeth in firm protest It s outrageous and inappropriate for the Trump Administration to use Travis Air Force Base as an immigration detention facility the joint letter reads Converting Travis into an immigration facility would undermine its vital national assurance mission Travis Air Force Base has long been known as the Gateway to the Pacific because it plays a crucial role in our national measure by providing transportation for personnel and materiel around the world particularly in encouragement to Ukraine Related Articles Planning a trip abroad Here s how to protect the content on your devices at U S confines searches A woman drove into a California military facility by mistake She now faces deportation Opinion Trump s refugee ban betrays shared history of struggle including mine Judge says US must allow displaced persons a chance to challenge in court any deportations to Libya Five charged in deadly migrant smuggling attempt off California coast The representatives wrote that they understand Congress s oversight role over the executive branch and noted the decision s blatant disregard for the Posse Comitatus Act which prohibits the use of operational duty military forces for domestic law enforcement We are deeply alarmed by Trump s blatant abuse of presidential power and his indifference to the rule of law the letter adds The representatives particularly Garamendi have demanded answers from the administration for months on this issue In January Garamendi sent a letter to Hesgeth with six direct questions regarding the use of C- s and C- s for deportations In February he required eight questions and protested the decision to send anatomical personnel from the base to Guantanamo Bay which was later halted Garamendi argued that people held at the Guantanamo Bay facility deserve healthcare but that the U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement Medical Facility Corps should be responsible for providing that care rather than military personnel A group of immigrants is marched to a waiting C- from Travis Air Force Base in this imaged shared on social media by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt COURTESY In February we uncovered that Trump was using Travis s military aircraft to shipping undocumented individuals at three times the cost of commercial flights the letter reads Later that month we were able to stop his attempt to send trained clinical personnel to the proposed migrant detention camp in Guantanamo Bay Now the President wants to turn Travis into a mass deportation center All these instances compromise our national safeguard and are merely absurd In the January letter Garamendi required which information were being diverted to the boarder under which authority those guidance were being diverted the funding and duration of the diversion why the U S Department of Defense did not use commercial flights instead of the military aircraft and what moves were being taken to maintain compliance with the Posse Comitatus Act The Department of Defense in recent days responded to that inquiry a release from Garamendi s office reads but Rep Garamendi s office uncovered the response inadequate According to the National General Radio reports Homeland Safety agents have been considering at least military bases around the country for immigration detention A February Homeland Measure memo obtained by NPR described a plan to use Fort Bliss near El Paso Texas as a model for other facilities with up to people initially detained there eventually expanding to as numerous as Previous administrations have used military bases to temporarily house arriving refugees and have deployed soldiers to provide logistical patronage to the U S Edge Patrol But any plan to use Travis and other military facilities for ICE detention would represent a more substantial move toward militarizing immigration enforcement In addition to humanitarian concerns and worries about the legality of the action the joint letter expressed concern that immigration related actions will distract the base from its critical mission to national precaution While the federal administration must address immigration challenges with humane and practical solutions utilizing a military installation for civilian law enforcement and detention operations raises considerable concerns about the misuse of military information operational readiness and national safety the letter reads The decision to use Travis AFB as a migrant detention center would both constitute a dangerous militarization of immigration enforcement and unnecessarily degrade military readiness Reporter Region Editor Robin Miller contributed to this assessment