Ft. Bliss near El Paso is soon going to be known for something other than as home to the Army's First Armored Division, 1200 WOAI news reports.
The Trump Administration has chosen Ft. Bliss, and Goodfellow Air Force Base in San Angelo, to house detained migrants in the current immigration crisis.
Migrant families with and without children will be housed at Ft. Bliss, while unaccompanied children will be housed at Goodfellow.
Military officials toured both facilities over the weekend.
The Pentagon says it has been told to prepare for 20,000 detainees.
The decision comes after President Trump approved an executive order stopping the removal of children from their parents.
Housing immigrants on military facilities is nothing new. Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio was temporary home for thousands of unaccompanied minors during the border crisis of 2014, and immigrants dating back to the Vietnamese Boat People, who fled Vietnam following the collapse of South Vietnam in 1975, have found temporary homes on military facilities.
Officials say the Pentagon will be reimbursed by the Department of Health and Human Services for taking care of the migrants, many of whom are expected to be house in tents.
IMAGE: GETTY