Migrant kids won’t be kept at Okla. base

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Trump administration no longer needs to detain migrant, children at an Oklahoma Army base and preparations to house them there have stopped, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.

“Over the last several weeks HHS has experienced a decrease in Department of Homeland Security referrals of unaccompanied alien children (UAC). Additionally, HHS has been placing UAC with sponsors at a historically high rate. As such, the UAC Program does not have an immediate need to place children in (holding) facilities,” said Evelyn Stauffer, spokeswoman for the agency’s Administration for Children and Families.

Stauffer, who did not immediately reply to messages seeking further information, said no children have been held at the base at Lawton, about 80 miles southwest of Oklahoma City.

Homeland Security officials said this month that the number of migrants encountered by Customs and Border Protection dropped 28 percent in June amid a crackdown on migrants by Mexico.

There were 104,344 migrants in June, down from 144,278 the month before.

Dream Action Oklahoma, which helped organize a rally and march of an estimated 400 people to Fort Sill last weekend to protest plans to use the base, said it was pleased by the announcement.

Japanese Americans and Native Americans were among those who took part in last weekend’s march and rally in front of one of the entrances to Fort Sill, where hundreds of Japanese and Japanese American people were detained by the federal government during World War II.