NJ congressmen push for answers about possible ICE detention center at Joint Base
Commanders at the base in Wrightstown say they have not been given orders from the Department of Defense concerning details about where on the base that site might go up.
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There are plans to put an immigration detention center at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.
Commanders at the base in Wrightstown, New Jersey, say they have not been given orders from the Department of Defense concerning details about where on the base that site might go up.
It became known after Reps. Herb Conaway and Donald Norcross, both Democrats, met with commanders on Friday.
The Department of Defense wants to house 1,000 to 3,000 detainees at a site on the base - to be run by Homeland Security.
RELATED: Immigrants to be detained at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst
Norcross and Conaway made it clear they don’t want to see a federal detention center on the base. Both met with base commanders on Friday.
They say they are primarily concerned that it would affect soldiers in charge of base readiness and air mobility.
Norcross says they’ve asked the DOD for details but have not gotten answers.
“I have never, in my 11 years in Congress, been shut out by our own government trying to get the information on what might or might not happen on a base in our backyard,” said Rep. Norcross.
The Department of Defense has not offered a timeline as to when the site would be built up.
Conaway and Norcross are asking their Republican colleagues to join them in pushing back on plans, but have not heard back from anyone yet.
