The Trump administration is planning to use military bases to house illegal immigrants as they go through the process of being deported.
Fort Bliss near the southern border in El Paso, Texas, would serve as a model as the administration seeks to develop more detention facilities on military sites across the country to make up for a shortfall of space at Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, The New York Times reported Friday, citing three officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of a plan that is still in its early stages and has yet to be completed.
The Trump administration will expand upon a plan used by previous administrations that held some illegal immigrants at military bases, most recently unaccompanied children who were released into the country to the care of relatives or friends. The plan would help address a possible shortage of space for holding the millions of illegal immigrants the administration is seeking to deport.
The administration is not yet arresting illegal immigrants at a rate that would fill a nationwide network of military facilities, according to the Times. ICE officers made more than 15,000 arrests between Jan. 21 and Feb. 13, according to the Department of Homeland Security. That's an average of just under 700 a day, more than double the typical daily rate in recent years, including during the Biden administration, but far short of what White House officials want.
Officials expect to hold just 1,000 illegal immigrants at Fort Bliss in the initial phase of its detention expansion, the Times reported, but it could ultimately hold many more. The Trump administration is already moving some illegal immigrants to Fort Bliss before deporting them.
The Pentagon has deployed 5,000 active-duty troops and National Guard members to the southern border to assist the Border Patrol with the goal of doubling that number in the coming weeks, according to the Times. It also transferred a small number of migrants to Guantánamo Bay in Cuba before they were taken this week to other countries.
Newsmax reached out to the White House, Pentagon, and Department of Homeland Security for comment.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, during a visit to Fort Bliss on Feb. 3, responded to questions about plans for holding illegal immigrants and deportees, plus the associated costs, at U.S. military bases.
"Any assets necessary at the Defense Department to support the expulsion and detention of those in our country illegally are on the table," he said, according to the Times.