INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Congressman André Carson on Friday said he doesn’t want to see Camp Atterbury used as a migrant detention facility.
The Department of Defense on Friday confirmed to News 8 that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth approved a request from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to use Camp Atterbury as a temporary holding site for suspected illegal immigrants. Pentagon officials said the facilities will consist of “temporary soft-sided holding facilities.”
Carson’s office told News 8 that DHS officials said they expect to house about 1,000 people at Camp Atterbury. Carson said it’s “an amazing facility” that is very well-kept and well-maintained, but it shouldn’t be used as part of President Donald Trump’s push for mass deportations.
“We cannot allow Camp Atterbury to be turned into Alligator Alcatraz,” Carson said, referring to the nickname for a planned holding facility in the Everglades in Florida.
Tucked away in Bartholomew and Brown Counties, Camp Atterbury is a major military training facility. It is a federal installation managed by the Indiana National Guard. National Guard officials said it may be used at the discretion of the federal government.
Camp Atterbury is in Congressman Jefferson Shreve’s district. The Republican said in a statement he strongly supports the move.
“Hoosiers voted for secure borders and safer neighborhoods last November. The influx of illegal aliens under the Biden Administration’s lax border policy left many of our communities less safe. I support the use of Camp Atterbury as part of our national effort to detain and remove criminal aliens who entered our country illegally.”
Rep. Jefferson Shreve, R-Indiana
The move prompted questions from two members of Indiana’s best political team during this week’s episode of All INdiana Politics. Former state Sen. Jim Merritt, a Republican, said he has questions ranging from whether the facilities at Camp Atterbury are ready for such use to whether the state of Indiana will face any financial obligations. He said it will take some time to prepare the base.
“I know people that have deployed there and been assigned there and it has a very specific use,” Merritt said. “And it will be very interesting to see how this fleshes out. Is it minutes? Or is it January 1? And who’s going to pay for it?”
Democratic strategist Lindsay Haake said Camp Atterbury has significant capability in terms of facilities, but both the United States and its allies need it for training. She said the use of the facility raises questions about involving the military in a domestic law enforcement matter.
“You’ve got a lot of layers of government there,” Haake said. “You’ve got a lot of interested organizations weighing in as well. These are complicated issues that really present the question of layers of government and how we deal with those separations of powers and whether that’s going to be observed in traditional avenues that we’ve seen that are coordinated with observant law, or if it’s not.”
All INdiana Politics airs at 9:30 a.m. Sunday on WISH-TV.
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