From Fox News: Military bases in both New Jersey and Indiana will soon be used by Homeland Security to house illegal immigrants, drawing a furious response from Democratic lawmakers.
Parts of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey and Camp Atterbury in Indiana will be repurposed and used as “temporary soft-sided holding facilities,” the Defense Department told Fox News Digital, citing a decision by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
New Jersey Democrats blasted the decision, warning it would harm military readiness and urging Republicans to join them in helping reverse it. Both bases were previously used to house thousands of Afghan refugees following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
NEW: Sec. Hegseth sent a letter to Congress on Tuesday announcing that the Department of Defense will allow DHS to detain immigrants on two military bases: Fort Atterbury in Indiana and Fort Dix in New Jersey.
There is no detail at this time as to when or how this will be done. https://t.co/55pKzQlPme pic.twitter.com/IQAaQjLKGw
— Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@ReichlinMelnick) July 18, 2025
Democrats had no problem when the Biden administration housed thousands of Afghan refugees at the military bases in 2021, but now they are fuming that the Trump administration will be temporarily holding illegal aliens at the same facilities.
In the joint letter, the New Jersey Democrats wrote:
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the decision by the Trump Administration to use Joint Base McGuire-Dix-LakehursT as an immigrant detention center.
“This is an inappropriate use of our national defense system and militarizes a radical immigration policy that has resulted in the inhumane treatment of undocumented immigrants and unlawful deportation of U.S. citizens, including children, across the country.
“We call on our RepubliCan colleagues in New Jersey to join us in urging this Administration to immediately reverse this action.
“Using our country’s military to detain and hold undocumented immigrants jeopardizes military preparedness and paves the way for ICE immigration raids in every New Jersey community. We have the greatest military in the world and using it as a domestic political tool is unacceptable and shameful.”
The letter is signed by: Reps. Herb Conaway, LaMonica McIver, Donald Norcross, Rob Menendez, Frank Pallone, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Josh Gottheimer and Nellie Pou, and Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim.
New Jersey’s Congressional Democrats stand united in opposition of the Trump Administration’s decision to create a detention facility for undocumented immigrants at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. pic.twitter.com/3vCWVEOdJW
— Congressman Herb Conaway (@RepHerbConaway) July 18, 2025
Welcome to New Jersey:
ICE detention capital, USA 🇺🇸https://t.co/JQmtRZ8wV8— NJ Alliance for Immigrant Justice (@NJAIJ) July 18, 2025
Democrats fume over new plan to house illegal migrants in New Jersey, Indiana military bases https://t.co/wiMN0FiAgA
— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 19, 2025
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