Posted on 07/11/2014 7:25:57 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
U.S. Rep. Denny Heck is urging the Department of Health and Human Services to meet with local government officials before moving forward with a proposal to shelter hundreds of young immigrant detainees at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
It’s not clear if the department will agree to the meeting, according to Heck’s staff. A spokesman for the department was not familiar with the request Thursday afternoon.
“Local residents deserve to know what this change will require from the community, if anything, and how the community—including active-duty military personnel stationed on JBLM—can stay informed on the situation,” said Heck, a Democrat from Olympia. “While the level of support in our community for this plan varies, everyone should be given access to information.”
Lakewood Mayor Don Anderson last week sent letters to Heck and the Department of Health and Human Services posing questions about how the immigrants will be held in the South Sound if the federal government uses JBLM as a temporary shelter.
HHS is using three military bases to temporarily house a surge of minors attempting to cross the U.S. border with Mexico. Most of them are from Central America.
JBLM is under consideration to become a fourth shelter site.
At the other bases, civilian workers care for the minors until they can be connected with relatives or sponsors in the United States. Military service members do not provide for the health or security of the immigrant detainees at any of the bases, according to the Defense Department.
Federal officials say they do not have enough space to care for the minors. Up to 90,000 people under the age of 18 are expected to try to cross the border this year, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
“Unaccompanied children are subjecting themselves to serious risks to make the journey here and our Border Patrol stations are overcrowded to the breaking point,” Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said Thursday at a Senate hearing.
President Obama this week requested $3.7 billion to deal with the crisis by stepping up border security and speeding judicial proceedings. Republicans have criticized him for conveying a mixed message on immigration that they believe has encouraged families to send their children north to America.
Heck and many Democrats view the surge in border crossings as a humanitarian crisis.
“These are not people coming here for a free ride,” U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said at a hearing Thursday in which she encouraged the Obama administration to treat the immigrants humanely.
“These are children, many of them only 7 or 8 years old, fleeing terrible violence in their home countries. They’re sent by desperate mothers and fathers who have had to look them in the eyes and literally tell them to run for their lives.”
Why not house the criminal aliens in some of the many office buildings the GSA is leasing but which are empty in Washington, D.C., rather than burdening our military bases with them?
“Up to 90,000 people under the age of 18 are expected to try to cross the border this year, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.”
How many over 18 are they expecting in this deluge?
Does anyone know if the illegals are getting shots, vaccines or microchipped when they come across?
It scares the h*ll out of me that they might house these people at our bases.
Soon we'll have dims calling for m ass deportation.
It seems appropriate to house the illegals on the “Left Coast” since they are some of Obama’s greatest supporters. It would be better if they moved them to Seattle, maybe to the Space Needle??
The Dumbest Person in the Senate award will not be given again until Patty Murray retires.
looks like some democrats get it.
the clintons will remember very well how politically dangerous these sorts of mass population movements can be.
the riots at Ft Chafee by the Mariel boat lift people was a big factor in bill clinton’s defeat in 1980
i expect “Mrs Rodham” to throw obama under the bus on this one - at the most opportune time, of course.
Our military will now be thier bed pan attendees.
What a load of tribe. This is an active duty base, not a closed one. Which means there are families of the Active Duty personnel. To pass along all these horrid diseases these kids have.
We don’t have vaccines for a lot of the crap they carry.
And why has NO ONE asked WHY NO MEDICAL BIO HAZARD SUITS AND DECONTAMINATION AFTER EXPOSURE DAILY BEING DONE?
It just will create a medical Pandemic across America if we do not contain them to 1 spot. And follow contiguous disease procedures of quarantine and proper Medical Bio Hazard suits and Decontamination after each exposure.
Those who do not remember, TYPHOID Mary should look it up. She was the carrier, spread it far and wide. Many died.
Our senior public are the most at risk, as most had no vaccines. Our children are mandated to have them for school, unless the parent has a DO NOT vaccinate order on file.
There must be plenty of room on the White House lawn to set up a significant tent city. And they could dine well on the Mooch’s garden.
And if any are from the middle east they would have access to a large Army and Air Force base, what a bunch of idiots!
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