Senator Jim Inhofe: Ft. Sill will not house migrant children

FT. SILL, Okla. – A spokesperson for Senator Jim Inhofe told KSWO plans have changed at Ft. Sill and migrant children will not be housed there for the time being.

1,600 migrant children were expected to be housed at Fort Sill, but those plans have been put on hold.

In a statement Wednesday to KSWO, a spokesperson for Senator Inhofe said that illegal border crossings have dropped. As a result, the Department of Health and Human Services won’t have to use Fort Sill.

Dream Action Oklahoma sent the following statement regarding Inhofe’s announcement:

Only four days after up to 1,000 protesters shut down the main Fort Sill entrance, Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe called to halt the plan to detain immigrant children at the fort. If or when the detained children are moved to a new location, expect us yet again. With little notice, this coalition gathered nearly 1,000 advocates from across Oklahoma and multiple states to march on Bentley Gate, closing off traffic and effectively bringing part of the military base to a close through the demonstration. Protesters demand an end to not just the Fort Sill proposal, but an end to all concentration camps in the United States. This action was a clear call to end violent immigration policy, family separation, child imprisonment broadly, and mass incarceration. Know that this is only the beginning.

Fort Sill was used to house hundreds of Japanese and Japanese Americans by the federal government during World War II.

Fort Sill was also used to house migrant children in 2014 during the Obama administration.