The Trump administration is planning to use a New Jersey military base to house immigrant detainees in a move that is drawing ire from Democratic Garden State lawmakers.
Portions of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Burlington County will be used as “temporary soft-sided holding facilities,” the Department of Defense told Fox News.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that the housing of illegal aliens “will not negatively affect military training, operations readiness, or other military requirements, according to a letter addressed to Democratic Representative Herb Conway.
The decision was blasted by national lawmakers from New Jersey who issued a joint statement excoriating the Trump administration for its alleged loose use of military resources.
“This is an inappropriate use of our national defense system and militarizes a radical immigration policy that has resulted in the inhumane treatment of undocumented immigrants and unlawful deportation of U.S. citizens, including children, across the country,” the joint statement read.
“Using our country’s military to detain and hold undocumented immigrants jeopardizes military preparedness and paves the way for ICE immigration raids in every New Jersey community,” the statement said.
“We have the greatest military in the world and using it as a domestic political tool is unacceptable and shameful.”
The statement was signed by Reps. Conway, LaMonica McIver, Donald Norcross, Rob Menendez, Frank Pallone, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Josh Gottheimer and Nellie Pou as well as Senators Cory Booker and Andy Kim — all of whom are Democrats.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also announced that parts of Indiana’s Camp Atterbury will be converted into migrant facilities.
It is unclear when the two sites will be up and running, Fox News reported citing the Defense Department.
Uproar over migrant housing in the Garden State hit a crescendo earlier this year when raucous protests at Newark’s Delaney Hall resulted in federal charges against Rep. LaMonica McIver.
The rep pleaded not guilty to federal charges of assault and impeding and interfering with law enforcement last month.
Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst spans 42,000 acres, is home to 45,000 military and civilian personnel, and is one of the only bases in the country to be operated by the US Air Force, Army, and Navy.
The base was previously used to house thousands of Afghan refugees following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
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