The Secretary of Defense has confirmed that a military base in Indiana and another in New Jersey will be converted to house detained immigrants who are awaiting deportation.
Since Trump came into office this year, the administration has added sixty facilities to the list of those used to house migrants marked for deportation, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.
Now, two more are being added to that list. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth supplied a letter to Congress to inform them that Camp Atterbury in central Indiana and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey will be available “for temporary use by the Department of Homeland Security to house illegal aliens,” the Indiana Capital Chronicle reported.
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In the letter, Hegseth insisted that turning space over to immigration enforcement “will not negatively affect military training, operations, readiness, or other military requirements, including National Guard and Reserve readiness.”
The timeline to begin shipping migrants to the bases has not been determined.
Camp Atterbury already has facilities to accommodate 7,000 in its dorm-style housing for families, and open barracks for singles. The buildings are equipped with central heating and air conditioning, and bathroom facilities.
President Donald Trump, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and others, tour “Alligator Alcatraz,” a migrant detention facility at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility, Tuesday, July 1, 2025, in Ochopee, Florida. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The 41,000-acre Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey is the Pentagon’s only “tri-service” base and serves more than 42,000 active-duty service members, civilians, and families. It seems likely that the base will also serve as an ICE base of operations for the northeastern area.
The plans have met with opposition from Democrats, but with the infusion of upwards of $170 billion for immigration enforcement, it does not appear that the critics will have any sway over the plans.
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White House Border Czar Tom Homan celebrated the increased capacity and noted, “The more beds that we have, the more bad guys we arrest.”
Migration Policy Institute analyst Kathleen Bush-Joseph added that the influx of cash will “absolutely supercharge immigration enforcement over time, but it’s not gonna happen overnight.”
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