John Fleming: “My amendment would prohibit funds from being used to modify a military installation for the purpose of housing…”

“My amendment would prohibit funds from being used to modify a military installation for the purpose of housing unaccompanied alien children. Our military installations are for training and equipping soldiers to fight our Nation's wars. The use of DOD facilities to house unaccompanied alien children undermines the readiness of our Armed Forces, which we know to be in extremis at this point. This amendment follows on from a provision included in the National Defense Authorization Act, passed out of the House Armed Services Committee, that prohibits unaccompanied alien children from being hosted on military installations. A similar standalone bill has also been introduced by Judge John Carter of Texas and has 61 cosponsors. Under recent agreements made by the Department of Health and Human Services, the DOD has provided housing to unaccompanied alien children with certain requirements and preferences being requested by HHS that facilities be able to provide space for security fencing, service trailers, and potential soft-sided outdoor housing. It is inappropriate for scarce defense dollars, meant to go for the readiness of our soldiers, to be used for nondefense purposes, especially at this time in our Nation's history when our readiness is so low. Take, for example, the Army Air Defense and Artillery training site at Fort Sill, where unaccompanied minors were housed in 2014.…”