Feds consider Kelso, Ark. for immigration detention

Feds consider Kelso, Ark. for immigration detention
Written by: Adam Roberts
Published by: 40/29

KELSO, Ark. —
Federal agents went to a fish experiment station in southeastern Arkansas to consider setting up a potential immigration detention center, U.S. Congressman Rick Crawford wrote on Twitter Thursday afternoon.

Federal officials were also at the Little Rock Air Force Base Thursday afternoon, to evaluate the site as a possible place to temporarily house immigrant children, base public affairs told 40/29.

This news comes a day after President Trump signed an executive action to end a family separation policy.

U.S. Sen Tom Cotton’s office told 40/29 Wednesday he does not support the plan to use the Little Rock Air Force Base, and would be sending a specific statement later.

“Senator Cotton supports the president’s end goal of keeping families together while enforcing our immigration laws,” the office said.

Tuesday, Gov. Asa Hutchinson told KATV that if Arkansas housed immigrant children, “we would want to do it in a compassionate way.”

The Kelso site is nearly 60 miles away from Pine Bluff, and about two miles away from the Rohwer Relocation Center,where more than 8,000 Japanese Americans were interned between 1942 and 1945, according to Arkansas State University.

This was part of a wartime policy in which 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry were placed in makeshift internment camps. President Reagan signed a bill officially apologizing for the internment in 1988.