The Trump administration is looking to the Army’s storied Fort Benning in Georgia as a possible location to house unaccompanied migrant children who have illegally crossed into the United States.
Pentagon officials and their counterparts in the Department of Health and Human Services planned to tour the Army base, nicknamed “Home of the Infantry,” on Wednesday, the Atlanta-Constitution Journal reported. Fort Benning is also home to the Army’s armored combat school and to certain elements of the famed 75th Ranger Regiment.
Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana and Fort Sill in Oklahoma are also on the list of military bases being considered as the government deals with a crush of minors crossing the border and seeking asylum in the U.S.
The visits come months after acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan signed off on a HHS request in April to provide space for nearly 5,000 undocumented minors at Defense Department facilities across the U.S. Over 40,000 migrant children under the age of 17 have been apprehended crossing into the United States illegally, AJC reports. That figure represents an increase of over 50 percent compared to 2018.
The scouting trips to American military bases also come as the Trump administration announced plans to cancel a slew of aid and support programs for migrant children caught crossing into the U.S.
• Carlo Muñoz can be reached at cmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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