--- title: Military Prepares for 32,000 Immigrants in Detention Centers description: The U.S. military is preparing to “house and care for” as many as 12,000 members of migrant families. canonical: https://time.com/5324490/zero-tolerance-detention-centers-military/ author: W.J. Hennigan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-06-28T01:30:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T09:32:31.013Z article:section: Politics og:title: The U.S. Military Is Preparing to Hold 32,000 Immigrants in Detention Centers og:description: Due to the Trump Administration's "zero tolerance" policy. og:url: https://time.com/5324490/zero-tolerance-detention-centers-military/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt74a21e100011a4c6/6989337d7cdbac7df1d5d33d/an-unneccesary-distraction-border-immigration-wall.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: Border Wall Immigrants Zero Tolerance og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The U.S. Military Is Preparing to Hold 32,000 Immigrants in Detention Centers twitter:description: Due to the Trump Administration's "zero tolerance" policy. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt74a21e100011a4c6/6989337d7cdbac7df1d5d33d/an-unneccesary-distraction-border-immigration-wall.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The U.S. Military Is Preparing to Hold 32,000 Immigrants in Detention Centers > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=d898d832-d837-4d21-9599-667e014036cd&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Elizabeth Warren Describes 'Disturbing Picture' After Visiting Immigration Facility in Texas [Watch (HLS stream): Elizabeth Warren Describes 'Disturbing Picture' After Visiting Immigration Facility in Texas](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/XgLFcrfC.m3u8) (1:11)  _Published 2018-06-25. Elizabeth Warren paid a visit Sunday to an immigration facility in McAllen, Texas amid the ongoing crisis over family separations at the Mexican border._ by [W.J. Hennigan](https://time.com/author/w-j-hennigan/) and [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/) Jun 28, 2018 1:30 AM UTC Elizabeth Warren paid a visit Sunday to an immigration facility in McAllen, Texas amid the ongoing crisis over family separations at the Mexican border. by [W.J. Hennigan](https://time.com/author/w-j-hennigan/) and [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/) Jun 28, 2018 1:30 AM UTC The U.S. military is preparing to “house and care for” as many as 12,000 members of migrant families, an escalation of the Pentagon’s role in the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy that will involve multiple detention facilities on southwestern bases. The new request comes addition to the plans to house as many as 20,000 immigrant children at Defense Department facilities who are apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border without an adult relative or are separated from parents. The military is being asked to help provide space to hold the migrants because existing federal facilities are running out of capacity due to the waves of people, mostly from Central America, who are being swept into the system due to the Administration’s policy of referring all border crossers for prosecution. On Monday, Defense Secretary James Mattis [identified two Texas military bases](http://time.com/author/w-j-hennigan/) as the sites where migrants will be held: Fort Bliss and Goodfellow Air Force Base. The Trump Administration has yet to publicly identify where the groups of migrants will be held, but an official told TIME that Fort Bliss is being prepared to house families whose adults face criminal charges for the Department of Homeland Security. Fort Bliss, located near El Paso on the Rio Grande river across the U.S.-Mexico border, is an Army base comprised of more than 1 million acres across New Mexico and Texas. Capacity is an urgent need. The Pentagon said in a statement late Wednesday it needs to be ready for as many as 2,000 people to be ready for detention within 45 days. A senior administration official says the 45-day timeline is likely to be on the long side. The official says the White House is pushing for a quicker ramp-up and expects the Pentagon will be able to deliver. Meanwhile, the same Administration official says children who arrive on the U.S. border without a parent will stay at Goodfellow under a program run by the Department of Health and Human Services. The base is located further north near San Angelo in central Texas. The military has had this role before. In 2014, the [Obama Administration placed around 7,700 migrant children](http://time.com/5314769/family-separation-policy-donald-trump/) on bases in Texas, California and Oklahoma. The temporary shelters were shuttered after four months. The Pentagon says “DHS prefers the facilities to be built in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, or California to enable access to and supervision of the sites and to comply with the Flores Settlement Agreement’s provision that reasonable efforts be made to place minors in the geographic area where the majority are apprehended.” If facilities are not available, the Pentagon has been asked to identify available land and “construct semi-separate, soft-sided camp facilities capable of sheltering up to 4,000 people, at three separate locations,” the statement said. The U.S. military has already carried out its own assessments in taking on more detainees who are awaiting civilian criminal proceedings. TIME obtained an internal Navy document last week that showed preparations to construct sprawling detention centers for tens of thousands of immigrants on remote bases in California, Alabama and Arizona, if called upon to do so. More than 2,300 children were separated from the adults they crossed the border with, provoking outrage around the world and producing a public relations nightmare for the Administration before [President Donald Trump’s about-face last week](http://time.com/5317269/family-separation-policy-donald-trump-pause/). ## Transcript [00:00] It's a disturbing picture. There are children by themselves. [00:04] I saw a six month old baby, little girls, [00:09] little boys. There are mothers [00:14] with their babies and with small children, family [00:19] units. Or together if it's a very small [00:23] child but a little girls who [00:27] are 12 years old are taken away from the rest of their [00:31] families and held separately or little boys. They're all on [00:35] concrete floors in cages. [00:39] There's just no other way to describe it. They're big chain [00:44] link cages on cold concrete [00:48] floors and metal blankets handed [00:52] out to people. The question we ask many of them, here [00:56] they sat in this cage Were they [01:02] glad they came? And for all of them, it brought [01:06] smiles. And they said, yes. 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