President Donald Trump’s administration has confirmed that it plans to use Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (JBMDL) in Burlington and Ocean Counties as an immigrant detention center, but when and how will the enormous new facility begin operations? Two New Jersey congressmen are trying to find out.
In a letter to three top Trump administration officials, Rep. Herb Conaway (D-Delran), who represents half of the base in Congress, and Rep. Donald Norcross (D-Camden) wrote that they have “serious concerns” about the plan, and asked a number of detailed questions about how the administration intends to go about potentially detaining thousands of immigrants at the base.
“Given the limited information provided, we believe further transparency is necessary to ensure JBMDL’s mission readiness is not compromised,” states the letter to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, and acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons. “Additionally, we want to ensure all individuals detained at the base are afforded humane living conditions, legal representation, and due process.”
The letter was also co-signed by every other New Jersey House Democrat except for Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair).
The Republican congressman who represents the other half of JBMDL, however, has been more supportive of the Trump administration’s efforts. In a statement released late last week, Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) said that he’s been briefed by Department of Defense officials on its detention and deportation plans, and added that JBMDL has been used for housing migrants before, such as when thousands of Afghan refugees stayed there during the Biden administration.
“I have represented parts of this great military facility for more than 40 years, and I am proud to have worked to expand, strengthen and save JBMDL from multiple attempted base closings and alignment rounds,” Smith said. “The DOD knows that our facility has been used successfully for temporary migrant housing in the past and, if called upon, will step up and serve our national needs with excellence once again.”
Reports that JBMDL could be used as part of the Trump administration’s far-reaching immigrant detainment and deportation agenda first arose in February, and Hegseth confirmed those plans in a letter to Conaway on July 15. Conaway and Norcross visited the base itself last week, but said that the base’s commanders were just as much in the dark as they were on what would happen.
Per Conaway’s and Norcross’s letter, JBMDL may house between 1,000 to 3,000 “adult, low-threat undocumented immigrants,” which could make it the largest detention facility on the East Coast. New Jersey already has two other operational detention facilities: Delaney Hall in Newark, which has around 1,000 beds, and the Elizabeth Detention Center, which has around 300.
The two congressmen wrote today that they’ve learned that JBMDL may not be reimbursed for all costs associated with the detention plan, which they said “raises serious concerns about the diversion of critical defense resources from national security priorities.” They also said they’ve been told that operations at the facility are not expected to start this fiscal year, meaning that JBMDL may not begin housing detainees until October 1 at the earliest.
Plenty of other questions, though, remain outstanding: what preparations are underway to prepare the base? Will the construction of a new intermediate staging base (ISB) interfere with JBMDL operations? What costs will DHS reimburse? What will the conditions be like for immigrants detained there?
The congressmen requested a “prompt briefing” on those questions, and written responses by no later than August 15.
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