Moffett Field Could Be Used As Detention Center For Migrant Kids

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA — Moffett Field, a federal airfield in Mountain View, is being considered as a site to be used as a detention center for migrant children.

NASA, which manages the airfield, has said that federal agencies, at the request of the Department of Health and Human Services, should determine if they have “vacant properties” that could be used to temporarily house unaccompanied migrant children.

Federal officials are grappling with a recent influx in migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border. More than 4,000 children are in Border Patrol custody as of this week, according to CNN.

“HHS and NASA’s Ames Research Center are coordinating a site assessment of some currently vacant property at Moffett Field, California, for HHS personnel to determine whether certain facilities at the site might be suitable to temporarily provide shelter space in the future,” NASA said in a statement to KRON.

On Monday, more than 50 demonstrators protested in front of Moffett Field, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. They pushed back against the use of any property as a detention center for children. One protestor told the newspaper the decision would feel like a "betrayal."

Moffett Field, located off Highway 101, includes the 1,000-acre Ames Research Center, a major hub for NASA in Silicon Valley.