Housing Illegal Immigrant Detainees

Floor Speech

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Mrs. ROBY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to voice my strong opposition to the possible housing of illegal immigrant detainees on Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.

An active military base like Maxwell-Gunter is no place to house detained minors, and I wasted no time making it clear to the Obama administration that I am paying attention to this and that I am going to fight any attempt to bring detained minors on the base.

I have written the Secretaries of Defense, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services to express my strong objection and to explain why this is such a bad idea. I have also been in touch with leaders on base in Montgomery to discuss the potential effect on their missions.

Our personnel at Maxwell-Gunter are engaged in serious military activities: training, education, cyber warfare, many times in classified settings that are very sensitive. Their mission does not need to be distracted by being forced to house and secure hundreds of detained minors.

The most compassionate action we can take is to return these children to their homes. Housing illegal immigrants at an active military base like Maxwell-Gunter is a terrible idea, and I will continue to work every angle to shut it down, just like we did 1 year ago.

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