fbpx

Response to Trump Admin Plan to House Child Detainees At Military Installations

“The answer is clear.  The administration needs to completely roll back its policy, and go back to the drawing board. Because this current policy is a disaster, and our military shouldn’t be the ones cleaning up their mess.”

 

WASHINGTON, DC – Will Fischer, Iraq War Veteran and Director of Government Relations for VoteVets, released the following statement, responding to news that the Trump administration may seek to house as many as 20,000 child immigrant detainees at military installations.

“The number one priority of this administration must be to reunite the thousands upon thousands of children taken under its previous cruel policy, with their parents.  Moving kids to indefinite internment at military bases does not solve that worsening crisis, for these children.  While the decision to look to move kids to military bases represents some acknowledgement that current detention facilities that many are in are inhumane, indefinite detention at military facilities is not an answer.  

Already, the administration has asked the military to take JAGs off critical national security work, to prosecute low-level misdemeanors at the border. Now, they may be asking the military to house children.  At some point, the administration has to come to grips with the fact that it never prepared for its ‘zero tolerance’ policy, is overwhelmed, and is now draining military resources to cover up the administration’s shortcomings.

The answer is clear.  The administration needs to completely roll back its policy, and go back to the drawing board. Because this current policy is a disaster, and our military shouldn’t be the ones cleaning up their mess.”

The story about the administration considering military installations to hold kids can be read here: https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/18/politics/family-separation-deterrence-dhs/index.html

The story about the administration ordering JAGs to prosecute cases at the border can be read here: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/393390-doj-requests-military-lawyers-to-help-prosecute-immigration-crimes