Groups Push for Environmental Info at Military Base Spotted for Detention Facilities
Immigrant and Latino groups have asked a Manhattan court to order the Army to comply with a FOIA request for information about the plans for a detention facility at a Texas military base believed to suffer from environmental issues.
August 31, 2018 at 04:49 PM
2 minute read
Immigrant and Latino advocacy organizations are seeking an order to force U.S. Army officials to expeditiously hand over information about health and safety issues at the Fort Bliss complex in Texas and New Mexico, which Trump officials are eyeing as a potential immigrant detention center.
In a filing Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, attorneys for the Hispanic Federation, GreenLatinos, and other groups are asking a federal judge to step in and force Army officials to comply with a Freedom of Information Act requesting detailed information about environmental hazards at the base and plans for the detention camps' construction.
“The government's failure to make information public about migrant detention centers in Fort Bliss is deeply alarming,” Earthjustice deputy managing attorney Thomas Cmar, counsel for the Hispanic Federation, said in a statement. “Detaining migrant families with children in hastily constructed tents on military bases is ill-conceived and dangerous.”
In June, reports indicated Fort Bliss to be one of two sites the Trump administration had selected for the construction of facilities to hold immigrants detained as part of ramped-up enforcement measures. Earlier, the Pentagon indicated Trump officials had asked it to prepare shelter for as many as 20,000 unaccompanied children coming over the border.
Fort Bliss is known to be potentially contaminated in areas by storage and disposal of toxic substances, according to the complaint. Neither the Army nor the federal Department of Health & Human Services have provided information about specific locations for the proposed camps, or potential environmental hazards children and families could face if detained there.
As the plaintiffs note, FOIA requests can be fast-tracked when the requester can demonstrate a compelling need. An agency receiving such a request has 10 calendar days to notify the requesting party if expedited processing will be granted. According to the plaintiffs, Army officials at Fort Bliss were sent an expedited request on Aug. 17, which it received on Aug. 20, yet no confirmation of receipt has been forthcoming. This, the plaintiffs claim, despite attempts by counsel to contact by telephone and email FOIA officials at the base and at the national office.
A spokesman for the Army said, “The Army does not comment on pending litigation.”
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