U.S. Representatives John Garamendi and Mike Thompson escalated their opposition to the Trump Administration’s reported plan to place an immigration detention facility at Travis Air Force Base, sending a joint letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hesgeth in firm protest.
“It’s outrageous and inappropriate for the Trump Administration to use Travis Air Force Base as an immigration detention facility,” the joint letter reads. “Converting Travis into an immigration facility would undermine its vital national security mission. Travis Air Force Base has long been known as the ‘Gateway to the Pacific’ because it plays a crucial role in our national security by providing transportation for personnel and materiel around the world, particularly in support to Ukraine.”
The representatives wrote that they understand Congress’s oversight role over the executive branch and noted the decision’s “blatant disregard” for the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the use of active duty military forces for domestic law enforcement.
“We are deeply alarmed by Trump’s blatant abuse of presidential power and his indifference to the rule of law,” the letter adds.
The representatives, particularly Garamendi, have demanded answers from the administration for months on this issue. In January, Garamendi sent a letter to Hesgeth with six direct questions regarding the use of C-17s and C-130s for deportations. In February, he asked eight questions and protested the decision to send medical personnel from the base to Guantanamo Bay, which was later halted. Garamendi argued that people held at the Guantanamo Bay facility deserve healthcare, but that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Health Service Corps should be responsible for providing that care rather than military personnel.
“In February, we uncovered that Trump was using Travis’s military aircraft to transport undocumented individuals at three times the cost of commercial flights,” the letter reads. “Later that month, we were able to stop his attempt to send trained medical personnel to the proposed migrant detention camp in Guantanamo Bay. Now, the President wants to turn Travis into a mass deportation center. All these instances compromise our national security and are simply absurd.”
In the January letter, Garamendi asked which resources were being diverted to the boarder, under which authority those resources were being diverted, the funding and duration of the diversion, why the U.S. Department of Defense did not use commercial flights instead of the military aircraft, and what steps were being taken to maintain compliance with the Posse Comitatus Act.
“The Department of Defense recently responded to that inquiry,” a release from Garamendi’s office reads, “but Rep. Garamendi’s office found the response inadequate.”
According to the National Public Radio reports, Homeland Security officials have been considering at least 10 military bases around the country for immigration detention. A February Homeland Security memo obtained by NPR described a plan to use Fort Bliss, near El Paso, Texas, as a model for other facilities, with up to 1,000 people initially detained there, eventually expanding to as many as 10,000.
Previous administrations have used military bases to temporarily house arriving refugees and have deployed soldiers to provide logistical support to the U.S. Border Patrol. But any plan to use Travis and other military facilities for ICE detention would represent a more substantial move toward militarizing immigration enforcement.
In addition to humanitarian concerns and worries about the legality of the action, the joint letter expressed concern that immigration related actions will distract the base from its critical mission to national security.
“While the federal government must address immigration challenges with humane and practical solutions, utilizing a military installation for civilian law enforcement and detention operations raises significant concerns about the misuse of military resources, operational readiness, and national security,” the letter reads. “The decision to use Travis AFB as a migrant detention center would both constitute a dangerous militarization of immigration enforcement and unnecessarily degrade military readiness.”
Reporter Community Editor Robin Miller contributed to this report.