Mattis: DoD Will Build Temporary Detention Camps at Military Bases for Migrants

The Department of Defense has been directed to build short-term detention camps on two US military bases in Texas.

Construction crews will begin building temporary housing at Fort Bliss and Goodfellow Air Force Base to house detained migrants swept up in the federal government's crackdown on illegal immigration, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Monday.

Mattis said he could not confirm specifics, such as the number of migrants to be sheltered at Fort Bliss and Goodfellow Air Force Base.

"We'll provide whatever support the Department of Homeland Security needs in order to house the people that they have under their custody," Mattis said. "We will work that out week by week. The numbers obviously are dynamic so we will have to stay flexible in our logistics support."

Mattis noted that the US military has a long history of providing logistical support to people "escaping tyranny" or affected by natural disasters, explaining he recognized the "political aspects" of the situation along the southern border of the US.

"We provide logistics support and we're not going to get into the political aspect," he said. "Providing housing, shelter for those who need it is a legitimate governmental function."

The number of detained migrants who might be held at Bliss and Goodfellow has not been announced, but the Pentagon said last week that it had been asked to be prepared to shelter as many as 20,000 unaccompanied children.

CA Governor Pressured to Remove Troops from Border

Meanwhile, more than two dozen California lawmakers have joined the campaign to get Gov. Jerry Brown to remove 400 National Guard troops from the US-Mexico border.

In a letter Friday, 29 Democrats joined the effort begun by state Sen. Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles).

"California must be clear and unequivocal in its opposition to such policies and should not be complicit in any manner in the indefinite incarceration of families and young children," the letter reads.

In April, Brown signed a memorandum deploying 400 California National Guard members in accordance with the Trump administration's executive order to secure the US-Mexico border.