The Pentagon will build tent camps at two U.S. military bases to accommodate people crossing the southern border illegally, the Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said in a statement Monday.
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The secretary broke the news during his travel to Asia to visit his counterparts in China, South Korea, and Japan. The immigrants will be housed on Fort Bliss, an Army base outside El Paso, and Goodfellow Air Force Base, outside San Angelo, in Texas, according to NPR. Pentagon has been told to prepare for up to 20,000 unaccompanied minors.
Comparing the military's plan to build the temporary camps to the military's response during a humanitarian crisis, Mattis said, "This is something that we can do."
"Again, whether it be refugee boat people from Vietnam, people who've been knocked out of their homes by a hurricane — absolutely, it's appropriate the military provide logistic support however it's needed," he added.
The news comes a week after President Trump said, "The United States will not be a migrant camp, and it will not be a refugee holding facility. Not on my watch."
Trump reiterated his anti-immigration stance on Twitter over the weekend, saying, "We cannot allow all of these people to invade our Country. When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came. Our system is a mockery to good immigration policy and Law and Order."
During weeks-long program as part of the zero-tolerance policy, the U.S. administration has managed to separate over 2,500 children from their families, drawing widespread ire.
As part of the uproar, a website TrumpHotels.org which is a satirical take on the president's actual resort business website (whose address ends in .com) is highlighting images of detained children and adults living in caged conditions away from their families, drawing a stark comparison of photos featured on his actual website that showcases the lit, swanky properties he owns.
Over the weekend, the Department of Health and Human Services said it has been able to reunite 522 of those children with their families after they were taken into custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials.