I oppose detaining migrant children at military bases like Camp Roberts. Here’s why

Earlier this month, on Mother’s Day weekend, I stood shoulder to shoulder with community advocates outside of the California Army National Guard military facility at Camp Roberts out of concern for the futures of 5,000 immigrant children proposed to be held there by the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

The proximity of our action to this holiday was no coincidence. All children need their mothers, or some other family member to nurture and protect them. They do not need to be shipped off to a remote area where they will be out of sight and out of mind, far away from the critical legal, medical, educational, and mental health services they need.

That’s exactly what would happen at Camp Roberts. When I stood outside the barbed wire fence of this military facility that in 2015 was cited by the Department of Toxic Substances Control for the improper disposal of hazardous waste, I couldn’t imagine even a single child being held there.

Then I started thinking about the sheer number of children that HHS is considering keeping there. San Luis Obispo High School has 1526 students enrolled this year. I just can’t imagine holding almost four times that many kids in a military facility and expect that to be in any way safe or healthy for them.

The reality is that when children are held in a restrictive, large population setting with an increased potential for abuse — as has been the case with influx facilities across the country — that’s detention, not shelter.

I’ve worked with community advocates for immigrant rights and can attest to the fact that detention is not the answer to any of our immigration issues. Detention will only increase the psychological torment that these children, who are fleeing violence, natural disasters, and economic destabilization in their home country, have had to endure. I stand against the use of Camp Roberts because I don’t believe a single child should be held in any large scale facility, much less a remote military base with a history of environmental issues.

There is a better way: Children should be housed in smaller centers in more urban settings where there are existing agencies and organizations that can attend to their many needs. Criminalizing these children, militarizing our response, and putting them in a dangerous facility far removed from anywhere, with no services and very limited oversight, is immoral.

Finally, any housing arrangements for these children must be short-term and temporary; the federal government must redouble its efforts to reunite the children with responsible family members already living here. Not only must these families be reunited immediately, but they must receive care, restitution and permanent legal status.

In the same way that we honor a mother’s love and compassion this month, I call on our community to honor the vulnerability and humanity of childhood. A military facility is no place for a child; we must greet those in most urgent need with compassion, humanity, and justice — not more cages.

Barry Price is a 13-year resident of San Luis Obispo County and a member of Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, a national organization dedicated to building a society where all people can live in peace, safety and freedom. Dona Hare Price, Elie Axelroth, Susan Dressler, Sari Dworkin, and Jan Meslin contributed to this article.