U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry does not want to see migrant children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border as Trump’s reversed policy required or as many as 20,000 unaccompanied minors housed on military bases.
Wichita Falls’ congressman was hopeful that legislation Congress might consider this week will take the first steps in the right direction to remedy immigration problems in the United States.
Meanwhile, there is talk of holding unaccompanied minors at three military installations in Texas and one in Arkansas. The Obama administration made a similar move in 2014.
“My view was and still is that nothing should be done that would affect military readiness,” Thornberry chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said.
“From a military standpoint, the key question I have is making sure nothing is adversely affected on those bases, no operations, no training,” Thornberry, R-Clarendon, said.
He said he thinks federal officials should figure out how to detain unauthorized immigrants without going to the military.
But if armed services installations are involved, they should receive reimbursement for associated expenses, he said. Lawmakers specifically designed the defense budget to restore readiness after fighting for the funds to do so.
A Department of Defense memo obtained by The Washington Post last week specifies the military will be reimbursed.
U.S. Senators visit El Paso border area Rudy Gutierrez / El Paso Times
Thornberry said he has not heard that Sheppard Air Force Base is under consideration to house unaccompanied minors, but it’s possible federal officials could conduct surveys of more bases.
He confirmed that Goodfellow Air Force Base in San Angelo, Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, Fort Bliss headquartered in El Paso and Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas are under review to house the minors.
“My understanding at this point is no decisions have been made,” he said.
To deal with waves of immigrant children coming to the border without their parents, the Obama administration directed that about 7,000 children be housed temporarily at Lackland AFB in Texas, Fort Sill in Oklahoma and Naval Base Ventura in California.
In May, the Trump administration started a policy to charge people crossing the border illegally with a federal misdemeanor.
The federal charges led to requirements that children entering the U.S. with their parents would be separated from them.
The children's care would be overseen by the Office of Refugee Resettlement as the parents’ charges played out.
As a result, federal officials separated more than 2,300 migrant children from their parents, igniting controversy and outrage.
Trump did an about face Wednesday, issuing an executive order reversing the policy that led to the children’s removal from their parents.
Thornberry’s reaction: “I am supportive of whatever it takes to end taking small children away from their parents. That’s just wrong.”
But the policy reversal isn't seen as a cure all.
“The concern is that the executive order will be challenged in court,” Thornberry said.
A modified 1997 court settlement specifies federal officials must release migrant children after 20 days in immigration detention, so the worry is Trump’s executive order won’t hold up to a legal challenge.
So Congress should pass legislation, Thornberry said.
The House voted on immigration legislation Thursday without success.
“We’re going to try again next week,” Thornberry said Friday.
He is hopeful about a bill that would deal with the separation of immigrant families, fund the border wall, deal with the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals issue and begin reforming the legal immigration system.
Initiated under the Obama administration, DACA provided temporary but renewable relief from deportation for certain young undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.
The Trump administration announced the end of DACA in September last year although the issue is still playing out in the courts.
Thornberry said the immigration bill would eliminate the diversity lottery and focuses more on merit-based legal immigration.
“I think it’s a good combination,” he said.
It doesn’t solve anything, but it takes steps in the right direction whatever your concern, Thornberry said.
House leadership held onto it to keep working on it and might make changes before presenting it for a vote, he said.
The U.S. immigration system needs a major overhaul, Thornberry said in a statement released last week.
“But there is no excuse for separating children from their parents,” he said. “We should begin with heightened border security and interior enforcement, not the division of families,”
Also last week, Thornberry found himself unexpectedly in the national spotlight.
The White House had asked for a meeting with lawmakers to discuss this year’s defense authorization bill, Thornberry said. As HASC chairman, he was sitting next to Trump.
“Before the meeting started, the president invited the press to come in, and they’re shouting a bunch of questions about immigration,” Thornberry said.
CNN televised an impromptu discussion about immigration in which some lawmakers – not Thornberry – chimed in.
When the press left, the talk of defense issues ensued, he said.
Although the meeting was supposed to be for defense, Thornberry said he guesses there are some things the president doesn’t have control over.