It’s official: Camp Roberts will not be used to house migrant children
There are currently 16,035 unaccompanied children in the care of HHS
Story updated June 15, 2021:
–The US Department of Health and Human Services on Monday night notified Congressman Salud Carbajal’s office that it is officially not moving forward with using Camp Roberts as a site to house unaccompanied minors. “They formally notified the Department of Defense last night, so this is official and final,” a spokesperson for Carbajal’s office said Tuesday morning. Carbajal’s district includes a portion of Camp Roberts.
Earlier this year, HHS was considering using Camp Roberts to house thousands of migrant children crossing the border into the US. As of June 11, there were a total of 16,035 unaccompanied children in the care of HHS.
An unaccompanied child who is taken into custody by Customs and Border Protection is brought to a facility and processed for transfer to the Department of Health and Human Services. HHS holds the child for testing and quarantine, and shelters the child until the child is placed with a sponsor here in the United States.
According to HHS, in more than 80 percent of cases, the child has a family member in the United States. In more than 40 percent of cases, that family member is a parent or legal guardian. These children are reunited with their families who will care for them. The children then go through immigration proceedings where they are able to present an application for asylum or other protection under the law.
Original story, June 3, 2021:
Plan to house migrant children at Camp Roberts on hold
–Spokespersons from regional U.S. Congressmen Salud Carbajal’s (D-Santa Barbara) and Jimmy Panetta’s (D-Monterey) offices say the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services notified them that plans to house migrant children at Camp Roberts are now on hold.
The plans for Camp Roberts are on hold because the number of children in HHS custody has dropped dramatically, the spokespersons said.
In a teleconference meeting with federal officials last month, Paso Robles Mayor Steve Martin was told as many as 5,000 unaccompanied migrant children could be processed at Camp Roberts. “I expressed concerns about the impacts on local traffic, medical services, educational services and housing,” Martin said at the time. “I was told that, if children were transported to Camp Roberts, they would not arrive all at one time, but in groups of a few hundred. I was also assured medical and educational services would be handled on-base and would not impact local agencies.”
The recent HHS decision follows complaints about the possible use of Camp Roberts from a coalition of community organizations, immigrant advocates, and concerned individuals from Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura Counties who met recently to discuss their concerns regarding the proposed plan to house unaccompanied minors at Camp Roberts.
The coalition said that California is a preferred choice as a welcoming state among the states that may be considered for locations. However, they say they cannot support Camp Roberts as a suitable site, nor can they support the use of any military base for such a purpose.
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