NASA Ames Will Not House Unaccompanied Migrant Children (Update)
Moffett Field will not be used to house unaccompanied migrant children, SJ Mercury News
“The Biden administration will not use vacant facilities at NASA’s Ames Research Center at Moffett Field as overflow temporary housing for unaccompanied migrant children, an elected official said.”
US considers using NASA facility to house migrant children, abcnews
“The Department of Health and Human Services has requested federal agencies to determine whether they have currently vacant properties that might be available and suitable for potential future use as Temporary Influx Care Facilities for unaccompanied migrant children,” Darryl Waller, a spokesman for NASA told ABC News. “HHS and NASA’s Ames Research Center are coordinating a site assessment of some currently vacant property at Moffett Field, California, for HHS personnel to determine whether certain facilities at the site might be suitable to temporarily provide shelter space in the future. This effort will have no impact on NASA’s ability to conduct its primary missions,” Waller said.”
Keith’s note: To be clear, according to sources HHS – and not ICE – would be running any facility at NASA ARC – if that indeed comes to pass. Unaccompanied minors who are detained are turned over to HHS for sheltering and care as soon as possible.
Keith’s 14 March update: NASA issued this statement: “The Department of Health and Human Services has requested federal agencies to determine whether they have currently vacant properties that might be available and suitable for potential future use as Temporary Influx Care Facilities for unaccompanied migrant children. HHS and NASA’s Ames Research Center are coordinating a site assessment of some currently vacant property at Moffett Field, California, for HHS personnel to determine whether certain facilities at the site might be suitable to temporarily provide shelter space in the future. This effort will have no impact on NASA’s ability to conduct its primary missions.”
This seems like a fine use of available government facilities. It also seems like an opening. How might NASA personnel offer themselves to these children during their stay at Ames? I sense a great opportunity for making a connection, perhaps one with a lasting impact on these young lives. How many Diana Trujillos might be among these children? https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2…
Maybe address why so many are now coming into the US?
Maybe do both.
Assuming that you are not asking a broader question about immigration, but are asking specifically why so many unaccompanied children are coming into the U.S., as it turns out that question has more complicated (and non-political) answers than one might think.
Most of these are not cases of children being forcibly separated from their parents (or whatever adults they are with), as this only happens if border agents believe that the child is in danger. Instead many of the children are crossing the border on their own to escape violence, gangs, and even domestic abuse. Keeping in mind that many of them are actually teenagers as the category includes any unaccompanied immigrant under the age of eighteen. In other cases children are essentially “pushed” through by family members in the hopes that the children will be taken care of.
It is then often a long and complicated process to either reunite the children with their families, or find a sponsor who will care for them, or as is often the case when the first two options are not possible, care for them in government facilities until they reach the age of eighteen. Note that the NASA facilities are not intended for long term housing but only to provide temporary space during large influxes.
I found a fairly comprehensive article about this topic on the Council on Foreign Relations website. Even though the article was written last October during the Trump administration, most of it is still relevant as this problem transcends political parties.
https://www.cfr.org/backgro…
Yes but why now? The flow into the US has jumped tremendously since Biden was elected. Perhaps they see lax immigration restrictions?
The article that I linked to from last October opens with “The United States recently saw a surge in apprehensions of unaccompanied migrant children, most from Central America, along its southwestern border.”
Again, that was written in October 2020.
A recent article in The Washington Post has a graph which shows that after reaching a low point during the first few months of the coronavirus pandemic, starting last August there has been a steady increase in the number of unaccompanied minors crossing the border, a monthly rate increase which continues into 2021. However even with the increases seen in February the levels are still well below the numbers seen in 2019.
The Washington Post article states:
“The (recent) surge is similar to others that occurred in 2014, 2016 and 2019, but also potentially larger, because conditions in Central America and Mexico are more desperate as a result of the pandemic’s economic pain.”
Concern that the levels might again reach the numbers seen two years ago is why there is proactive planning going on right now to try and prepare for it by locating additional space to temporarily house unaccompanied minors.
Perhaps they see a more humanitarian approach for desparate people experiencing unimaginable need?
Or perhaps those in other countries see lax border protection and are looking to take advantage of it and US citizens.
I’m not entirely unsympathetic to your POV. Overall, though, my sense is tempered by personal experience.
As I’ve lived in southwest Florida for >35 years, I’ve had occasion to interact with dozens of migrants. Many were illegal.
And each time, I make an often futile attempt to imagine what I would do. It’s difficult to imagine circumstances that would motivate me to close my front door for the last time, carrying whatever I could, facing a dangerous trek that can be a thousand miles. Many walk that entire distance, leaving behind family, neighborhoods, a culture, all for the chance to make a better life. It’s simply inconceivable viewed from the West. How awful must life be like for them? How desperate? Those are the facts as they face them.
Here in the receiving country, other facts loom larger, don’t they? There’s the cost of immigration (leaving aside results from countless studies showing that migrants are a substantial net ‘plus’ to our economy). There’s social disruption, too, of course. We also tend to imagine that Americans workers are displaced (again, leaving aside the well-understood fact that Americans won’t take the jobs they willingly seek). Forgotten, too, is the stunning contribution made by migrants to the culture of hard work being the road to success.
I’ve argued that contributing to improved conditions in source countries would, in the long run, help improve local economies, thereby stemming the flow when local opportunities are available.
In the end, consider this: helping the poorest is simply the right thing to do. As policy, this notion does not require us to do so at our own, corporate expense, but it does require us to find a way to help. It’s the right thing to do, and if we can benefit at the same time, even better.
Shrugging our collective shoulders, closing the gates, is simply a bad answer, an answer that exacerbates the problem.
While a lot of what you say is true lets remember we are talking illegals who have gotten into the country without authorization, without paperwork, without sponsorship, and which we now have to try and take care of ahead of tens of thousands who have been waiting patiently in many cases for years and decades.
So .. these people are less than human and do not require humane accommodations while we retain them? We are America – not some thuggish nation.
When we offer free citizenship to anyone that illegally entered the US, you would expect the floodgates to open. What other country does this?
Trying to avoid a wider political discussion, but I would be very cautious about any coordinated effort encouraging federal employees in departments not directly related to immigration and health to connect with undocumented immigrants.
A truly grass-roots effort by a group of employees with no assistance by management might be OK, but the moment a supervisor-or-higher level employee mentions the effort positively or negatively during work hours, you run a tremendous risk of politicization or just the appearance of politicization.
As far as the actual headline, yeah it makes sense that the federal government is looking for room to house people in its care, and it makes sense to look at federal property that’s not currently being used.
I think or hope that most NASA people have their own jobs they need to do and not become nursemaids to hundreds of thousands of South Americans who have been invited illegally into the country. If not then I guess we should ask just how much of NASA’s budget can be eliminated because the budget and the people are not needed.
The only thing that NASA puts up is unused buildings. Unused. HHS does the rest.
And possibly not even buildings NASA paid for in the first place. Aren’t most of the unused buildings at Ames ones NASA inherited from the Navy, when they closed Moffett Field?
Exactly. And FWIW FEMA has had various supplies and equipment forward positioned at ARC for years. You can see the trailers and vans when you drive around. There are large DoD logistics capabilities plus a vast airstrip often used to land Air Force One. This is a natural place to do an “all of government” response without NASA spending a penny.
They also use Moffett for disaster response drills, etc. – tons of space and old buildings there that can easily be repurposed. It’s a good use – FEMA can put up tents if there’s not the right buildings (some are so old they’re dangerous – asbestos, etc.). Weather is fairly benign, lots of supporting businesses in the community.
Moffett Field is a vast federal base. NASA Ames is only part of it. FEMA has buildings there as well. The California Air National Guard is there as well. Many of the presidents have landed there to visit Silicon Valley. There is plenty of room. No more children in cages. NASA inspires in many ways. This is one way on Earth – help those less fortunate than yourselves.
Precisely.
Might be the most cost-effective thing NASA has done in some time.
The problem is not whether migrant children should be cared for. The problem is that the rate they are being allowed to come into the country, is not one that we are currently equipped to handle properly. In the past, when Ellis Island was the entry point for immigrants, some medical screening was used (possibly misused!) to protect our own people from disease, and also to insure that the newcomers could be taken care of. According to some reports, 10% of the people coming across the border have tested positive for the COVID virus! Just passing them through to various points in the country without isolation and vaccination does them no service. For those adults coming across the line, they need to be screened to determine if they are a potential benefit or danger to our country. If we do not have adequate personnel and facilities, then Congress needs to step up and appropriate funds to increase the capabilities.
Once properly processed, then I agree every effort should be made by NASA and whatever other agencies to integrate these children and adults into our society.