'Political stunt' or 'doing his job': Fiery debate over keeping immigration camp out of Alabama

In one of Alabama's reddest counties, residents are telling their Republican leaders they don't want the nation's fiery immigration battle coming to their backyard.

"This is a pretty intense issue for our district," said U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne, R-Fairhope, who hosted a telephone town hall on the issue Tuesday night in which 91 percent of participants opposed the concept of using two underutilized Navy air fields in fast-growing Baldwin County as makeshift detention facilities for undocumented immigrants.

Over 4,700 people signed onto a petition Wednesday afternoon opposing the possible reuse of the air fields as tent cities to house up to 25,000 undocumented immigrants.

It's Baldwin County's second battle with the federal government in the last two years over the concept. And it's creating some odd political bedfellows.

  • Democrats are mostly siding with Republican leaders in opposition to the potential reuse of two Naval Outlying air fields serving as temporary housing for up to 25,000 undocumented immigrants. The concerns are similar: The two air fields have no running water or electricity, are located in a hurricane evacuation zone, and could pose health and safety risks.
  • Republican leaders plan to utilize U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions own words from 2016 in opposing the potential use of the air fields, located in rural Orange Beach and Silverhill. Sessions, two years ago,

'Political stunt'

There is also political intrigue as some of the leaders involved in the issue face opposition during the July 17 GOP runoff elections, while others square off against Democratic opponents in November.

The political squabbling over the issue has resonated in the state Senate race between Dr. David Northcutt, a dentist from Fairhope, and Baldwin County Commissioner Chris Elliott of Daphne. The two are entangled in a fierce battle ahead of next month's Republican runoff for the state Senate seat long held by Trip Pittman of Montrose.

Elliott and Commissioner Tucker Dorsey - who also faces a runoff contest of his own -- traveled to Washington, D.C., Wednesday with Baldwin County Sheriff Huey "Hoss" Mack.

The trio is meeting with U.S. Department of Defense and Homeland Security officials to discuss their opposition to the possibility of employing the two relatively unused air fields as tent city complexes for undocumented immigrants arrested at the border.

They could also discuss the potential of purchasing the air fields from the government. Baldwin County, for instance, utilizes the Silverhill air field for hurricane staging and emergency preparedness.

Their trip was criticized on Tuesday by Northcutt, who said in a statement to AL.com that it's "impossible to find" an elected official and "almost impossible to find" a citizen who favors erecting tents in Baldwin County to house 25,000 undocumented immigrants.

The main concern, he and others have said, has to do with evacuations during the middle of hurricane season. Approximately 25,000 undocumented residents would be akin to the size of Daphne, which is Baldwin County's largest city.

Said Northcutt: "I do think it's unfortunate that three of our Baldwin County officials are using this 'event' which appears to have a foregone conclusion of not happening, as a political opportunity and wasting taxpayers' money to travel to Washington, D.C., as part of a political stunt."

Jonathan Gray, a political strategist representing Elliott's Senate campaign, said Northcutt's comments were "stupid" and that Elliott, as a member of the commission, was "doing his job."

Gray said Northcutt's statement is "to attack the people who are defending Baldwin County."

"It takes a special kind of stupid to think we somehow created with the White House, the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, Time Magazine, the Democrats and a host of others, a mass border crossing and then leak Baldwin County as a detention location through a secret document. That's patently ludicrous."

Mack, the county's sheriff who doesn't face political opposition this year, said the county officials didn't "chose the timing of the issue coming up again." In 2016, behind Baldwin County's unified opposition, the federal government backed away from a proposal to house about 2,000 undocumented immigrant youths at the two air fields.

"I have taken an oath to serve and protect the people of Baldwin County against all threats, implied or real," said Mack. "I feel I am doing my job and honoring my oath to look the appropriate officials in the face, voice concerns and let them know this is a bad idea for our area. Washington, D.C., needs to know we take this matter seriously."

Byrne, on Wednesday afternoon, said he believed the trio's meetings will have a "significant impact" on the issue.

"I very much appreciate the three local officials coming up to provide a local perspective about the problems with this proposal," he said.

'Subpar' facilities

Elliott and Byrne, meanwhile, said they support reciting Sessions' own words from 2016, in formulating a plan to oppose any efforts by the federal government to utilize the two air fields as undocumented immigration camps.

Sessions, two years later, is the central figure in the Trump Administration's "zero-tolerance policy" toward immigration. The policy has been roundly criticized following startling accounts of parents and children being separated at the border during detainments.

"It's a good idea to do that," said Byrne, about referencing Sessions. "Obviously, he does not have jurisdiction over this. That would be his fellow cabinet members. But he may want to weigh in and talk to folks (about the Baldwin County facilities)."

Elliott said the same issues today were present in 2016, when Sessions and Shelby signed a joint letter to the Obama Administration that, among other things, demanded a documentation of all travel costs associated with assessing sites to house undocumented immigrant youths.

"From an infrastructure standpoint, these places are subpar," said Elliott.

He said that unlike in 2016, the county may have gotten involved with the issue earlier in the process.

The hullabaloo over the use of the two airfields for undocumented immigrant camps first surfaced in a Time magazine report on Friday, in which the publication had obtained a draft memo outlining plans to build "temporary and austere" tent cities to house the detained immigrants.

In 2016, the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement - an arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - was the lead agency looking to move 2,000 undocumented youths into the county. The county overwhelmingly objected, stating many of the same claims today: No utilities, such as water and electricity, at either site; exposure to high heat and humidity; a logistical nightmare if a hurricane evacuation is needed; and a safety concern if criminals are moved into the county.

"We caught this very early," said Elliott. "(The Department of Defense) is looking at the totality of the assets in the general area. I think this one would score fairly low without water/sewer, and it's a long way from the border. It's in a hurricane zone."

'Horrible idea'

Democrats who are running for office later this year mostly agree with Elliott, Byrne and other Republicans over the concerns about the facilities.

Baldwin County, which is the state's fastest-growing county, is a GOP stronghold. No Democrat holds a state or county office within a county that extends from the beaches of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach northward to the rural areas of Bay Minette and Stockton.

Jason Fisher, an Orange Beach Democrat who will face the winner of the Elliott-Northcutt runoff for the state Senate seat, said there "very well may be the valid safety concerns" argued by the county's Republican leaders against housing the facilities in Baldwin County.

But if the federal government chooses the two airfields, Fisher said that it's incumbent on county leaders to manage them.

"If the decision is made by the president to locate the camps here, then we have a duty as a community to come together and be prepared to work through any logistical challenges for both the benefits of the immigrant families and children and the officials who are responsible for ensuring the operation runs as smoothly as possible," he said.

Amber Smith, a Daphne Democrat vying for a county commission seat, said she's worried about the humanitarian crisis that could occur with thousands of undocumented immigrants relocated to an area where the "heat index is 101 today."

"It's inhumane," said Smith. "There is no plumbing or running water. It's a horrible idea."

She, however, said she doesn't support the "not in my backyard" comments that have dominated social media posts in recent days from residents who do not support the plans.

"They have to be somewhere," said Smith. "I'd just prefer that they don't suffer from heat stroke."

Danielle Mashburn-Myrick, a Democrat running for a state House seat long occupied by Rep. Joe Faust, also called the proposal "inhumane."

Faust and the rest of the Baldwin County legislative delegation, all Republicans, wrote a letter Monday to the Department of Health and Human Services in opposition to the possible plan.

"Baldwin County needs new roads, new schools and improved water treatment facilities - not tent cities," said Mashburn-Myrick. "We deserve better."

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