Demonstrators protest Moffett migrant youth detention plan
More than 50 people protested Monday afternoon at Moffett Field in Mountain View, where federal officials are considering temporarily housing unaccompanied migrant children who recently crossed the U.S.Mexico border.
Standing along Moffett Boulevard waving posters soaked by the rain and chanting “Free our kids” and “Shut it down,” demonstrators called on the Biden administration to reverse course.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is assessing vacant property at Moffett Field to see if the former Navy base can be used for temporary overflow shelters amid a significant influx of children and families crossing the border, according to NASA, which manages the federal property.
The news has frustrated community organizers across the Bay Area, who criticized the Biden administration’s use of detention camps for
migrant children, despite the president’s promises to create humane immigration policies.
“I think it’s really important to stand up for my people and be the voice for those who don’t have one,” said Julissa Farias, 19, of Sunnyvale, the daughter of Mexican immigrants. Farias stood in the crowd Monday holding a poster that said, “Immigrants are welcome here.”
The news that the government is eyeing Moffett Field as a potential shelter “felt like a betrayal,” she said. “This is my way of fighting back.”
A child entering the U.S. illegally without a parent or legal guardian is considered an unaccompanied minor and must be transferred, by law, to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, according to Health and Human Services. HHS is legally required to care for these children until they are released to a qualified sponsor — typically a parent or close relative — while they await immigration proceedings. Unaccompanied minors can also leave HHS custody if they return to their home countries, turn 18 or gain legal status in the U.S.
The Biden administration has said emergency camps like the one being considered at Moffett are necessary because many existing facilities have had to cut capacity because of the coronavirus pandemic. An unprecedented influx of unaccompanied minors at the border is also driving a need for more shelter space, the government says.
SIREN, an immigration advocacy organization in San Jose, led the demonstration at Moffett Field.
“I think wherever it happens, it’s wrong,” said demonstrator Rohin Ghosh, 17, of Palo Alto. “I think because it’s going to happen here, it’s our responsibility as the people of this community to say, ‘No, it’s not. We don’t do this here.’ ”
Entries at the border dipped significantly under the previous administration after former President Donald Trump enacted a series of stringent policies that essentially blocked migrants from seeking asylum in the U.S.
Biden has already reversed many of those policies, including one that forced asylum seekers to remain in camps in Mexico as their cases were being processed. Those changes have encouraged many to migrate north in recent weeks, where they anticipate a warmer welcome, experts say.
The number of children and families seeking to cross the border increased by more than 100% between January and February, the Associated Press reported. The number of children crossing on their own jumped 60% to more than 9,400, forcing the government to look for places to shelter them temporarily.
The Department of Homeland Security last week called on the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help care for teens and children at the border as part of a 90day, governmentwide effort to address the rapidly growing number of migrants fleeing an uptick in violence, poverty and natural disasters in Central America.
“FEMA is actively engaged with HHS to quickly expand capacity for safe and appropriate shelter, and to provide food, water and basic medical care,” a spokesperson said in a statement Monday.
HHS did not respond to requests for comment.
Moffett Field includes the 1,111acre Moffett Federal Airfield, NASA’s 573acre Ames Research Center and the 256acre NASA Research Park. The research park is largely made up of former military facilities, where external commercial and academic tenants are housed, as well as other federal organizations, said Darryl Waller, a spokesperson for the Ames Research Center.