By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
On Tuesday, July 1, Congressman Mike Rogers (R) from Saks announced his opposition to a proposal by President Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services to relocate large numbers of illegal aliens apprehended at the southern border to Anniston, Alabama where they would be housed at the Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) on what was once Fort McClellan.
U.S. Representative Rogers called the plan, “misguided and misinformed” in a letter that he sent to Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson. On Wednesday, July 2 Rep. Rogers announced that the CDP was no longer being considered as a destination for the growing numbers of illegal aliens that the Obama Administration is apprehending at the border, but which are not being sent back to the countries from which they have come.
Congressman Mike Rogers said in his Wednesday update to the story that he was encouraged to learn that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) plan to house illegal immigrants and children at the Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) in Anniston has been cancelled. Rogers’ staff received an email Wednesday morning from the Federal agency stating “the site is no longer under consideration, and GSA and HHS will not be taking further steps related to that facility.”
Great news and wonderful work by Alabama’s own, Congressman Mike D. Rogers (R) from Auburn said, “It now appears that the Obama Administration is backing down on their attempt to send illegal immigrants at the border to Alabama. But, as with everything in this Administration, we must be vigilant in ensuring that they keep their word.”
In Rogers’ letter in opposition to the proposal he wrote, ““…I am concerned the housing of many of these unaccompanied minor children who arrived here under the false belief they would be granted legal status – a belief challenged little if at all over the years by the Obama Administration – could put deep and challenging stresses on the local community’s health system. To say that such a misguided plan would need to be first reviewed and discussed extensively by the host community is an understatement. To my knowledge this plan has received no community feedback whatsoever, and I have every belief the CDP is not the only Federal facility under consideration across the nation.”
Rep. Rogers blames the Obama Administration for the recent flood of illegal immigrant children crossing the Southwest border into our country. “President Obama is not following our immigration laws resulting in a national immigration crisis. We should be working with the nations of origin to return these children back to their homes safely,” Rogers wrote.’
Rep. Rogers said, “The CDP is a world class first responder training facility; however, it was in no way built to house immigration detainees, much less children. CDP is over 900 miles from the Rio Grande Valley where many of these border crossings occur, and transporting illegal immigrants so far away from the border and their home countries would seem to make this crisis worse. It seems implausible that there is not a temporary facility within 900 miles of our southwestern border capable of housing these individuals without the disruption that I am concerned this transfer would cause to CDP operations. In addition, I am concerned the housing of many of these unaccompanied minor children who arrived here under the false belief they would be granted legal status – a belief challenged little if at all over the years by the Obama Administration – could put deep and challenging stresses on the local community’s health system.”
Congressman Mike Rogers was first elected to Congress in 2002 and is seeking a seventh term.
