[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 132]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  HOUSING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT DETAINEES

  (Mrs. ROBY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. ROBY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to voice my strong opposition to 
the possible housing of illegal immigrant detainees on Maxwell-Gunter 
Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.
  An active military base like Maxwell-Gunter is no place to house 
detained minors, and I wasted no time making it clear to the Obama 
administration that I am paying attention to this and that I am going 
to fight any attempt to bring detained minors on the base.
  I have written the Secretaries of Defense, Homeland Security, and 
Health and Human Services to express my strong objection and to explain 
why this is such a bad idea. I have also been in touch with leaders on 
base in Montgomery to discuss the potential effect on their missions.
  Our personnel at Maxwell-Gunter are engaged in serious military 
activities: training, education, cyber warfare, many times in 
classified settings that are very sensitive. Their mission does not 
need to be distracted by being forced to house and secure hundreds of 
detained minors.
  The most compassionate action we can take is to return these children 
to their homes. Housing illegal immigrants at an active military base 
like Maxwell-Gunter is a terrible idea, and I will continue to work 
every angle to shut it down, just like we did 1 year ago.

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