We believe that all military personnel have a moral and legal obligation to refuse to comply with any order that involves collaboration with these camps.
Actual concentration camps are in the process of development at military bases across the southern United States.
This isn’t the first time in US history that such camps are being constructed and used to imprison large numbers of a persecuted minority in a relatively small area with inadequate facilities (the definition of a concentration camp). Previous examples of this are now infamous, such as the so-called Japanese internment camps. We’re now on the brink of adding a new chapter to this dark history.
Military officials, in response to pressured deadlines from the White House, have stated that these camps can begin operations now. Estimates are that capacity for another 10,000 people can be added each month. The White House’s decrees have local base commanders scrambling and caught unaware.
In addition to providing the land, military personnel will construct the camps while private agencies will manage the operations. While this simplified explanation of operations seeks to minimize the military’s role, it omits the endless capacities in which the armed forces will surely be facilitating the functioning of these camps such as water, electricity, sewage, and trash.
Additional operational problems include the difficulty of housing persons in restricted access bases who legally need access to
immigration and civil-liberties lawyers, secure areas to discuss their cases, as well as access for advocates, relatives, news
media and political activists. Another issue is the lack of state licensing requirements, such as health and building codes, which military locations enable the government to avoid.
As of July 10th, two weeks after the Pentagon confirmed that it was indeed working with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to construct these camps, there was still no Memorandum of Understanding with either DHS or Health and Human Services (HHS). Nor could any timeline be stated for one. A memorandum would clearly delineate the roles and responsibilities of all parties. To move forward with construction plans without one, nor any clear legal guidance, certainly leads military personnel into dangerous waters for themselves.
The military is strictly prohibited from domestic policing, as stated in the constitution, yet military personnel are being drafted into doing just that with this rising domestic enforcement of immigration policy. Just because Trump/Sessions Co. declares a war on immigrants, doesn’t make it an actual war. Being quite clearly an illegal order, the question is who will refuse to aid and abet?
The Trump administration’s reckless leadership is currently putting military personnel in danger of running afoul of the law. While military personnel at all levels have a responsibility to refuse to participate in facilitating these camps, commanders in particular are at a particularly high risk in complying with these orders, due to the precedent of the Nuremberg prosecution of
those who aided and abetted Nazi leadership.
Already the construction of one camp has been abandoned due to people’s refusal to look the other way. The proposed use of the Concord Naval Weapons Station experienced significant resistance and outcry from the community and local officials who opposed the plan once it was exposed via a leaked Navy memo. DHS, soon thereafter, announced they would no longer build a concentration camp at this location. To follow that up, on July 10th, the Contra Costa Sheriff ’s Department announced it is cancelling its contract with ICE that facilitated the local county jails holding ICE-detained persons for a lucrative fee. These human rights victories have been happening in other communities as well, including Sacramento County recently.
Since the news coverage of the camp plans was broken, there has been heated debate within military communities as individuals seek to understand and define their reactions to this new era we find ourselves in. Meanwhile more than thirty lawmakers are pushing forward different amendments which would bar National Guard or other reserve components from enforcing immigration laws, and restrict the Pentagon from housing immigrants on military bases. Alabama Rep. Byrne recently stated “Housing anyone in tents on the Gulf Coast during the heat of summer and the heart of hurricane season would be inhumane and a major mistake. I am committed to working with our local officials to fight back against this misguided idea.”
There are discussions and calls right now for counties to cease partnering with ICE, and communities surrounding military bases to refuse to work on the bases which will hold tens of thousands of people for the “crime” of seeking refuge.
The administration appears to be postponing the opening of these military run camps by greatly increasing the size of the Tornillo detainment tent city in Texas. Nearly 4,000 children are expected to be held there by year’s end. Courage to Resist believes that all military personnel have a moral and legal obligation to refuse to comply with any order that involves collaboration with these immigrant concentration camps.
Potential locations identified by military or Pentagon personnel• Tornillo Port of Entry, Texas– capacity 3,800 children CURRENTLY ACTIVE• Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas – capacity 45,000• Fort Bliss, Texas• Dyess Air Force Base, Texas• Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas – capacity 20,000• Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Air Station, California – capacity 47,000• Navy Outlying Field Wolf and Silverhill, Alabama – capacity 25,000• Yuma Marine Corps Air Station, Arizona• Concord Naval Weapons Station, California CANCELLED
BBC drone footage of the new ‘tent city’ immigration dentention camp at Tornillo Port of Entry, Texas. The next US military-hosted camps are expected to be built on unused airfields.
