Refugees to Fort Drum?

The Fox affiliate WNYF in Watertown, New York is anxiously anticipating that some of the refugees from our southern border might be housed at Fort Drum;

[Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Crosson, spokesperson for the Office of the Secretary of Defense] says it’s too early to tell if Fort Drum will be used, but if it is, the installation and its barracks would not house children until next month.

“We can’t even offer those to Health and Human Services for their consideration until August, until they’re vacant and no longer being used by Army personnel,” he said.

He was unable to release additional information.

According to a classified ad placed by Occupational Health Connections, multiple positions will be available at Fort Drum for registered and licensed practical nurses, doctors and counselors.

“FEMA is gearing up for potential of receiving 500 children up to the age of 17. These are children refugees who are crossing the border to escape drug cartels and will need healthcare,” the ad reads.

The ad says the start date is unknown, but people will probably start after July 4.

I’m not sure how many of you have been to Fort Drum, but I spent two years there. I loved it, but I love to hunt and fish, I’d spent the previous decade in Germany and Vermont so the winters didn’t bother me much. I doubt that any refugees from Central America will be impressed with the isolation and the mind-numbing lack of things to do. Remember the Cuban refugees rioting at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas?

Sixty-two refugees were injured – some by gunfire – and 46 others were arrested. As Arkansas Times reporter Bob Plunkett wrote then: “Before El Domingo (Spanish for ‘Sunday’), the term used by the refugees to refer to the June 1 riot, Fort Chaffee’s only containment barrier was a limp cotton rope draped over a line of sawhorses place around the Cuban housing area.” After the riots, Gov.Bill Clinton and President Jimmy Carter ensured that the lightly fortified camp was turned into a prison, encircled with miles of concertina wire and 2,000 heavily-armed federal troops.

That was after they had been a month. This administration doesn’t seem to have as much on the ball as Governor Bill Clinton and President Jimmy Carter had in 1980, I’m pretty sure any refugees at Fort Drum can plan on months of throwing pine cones at each other (the only way to pass time there).

I should probably add that, if you don’t know it, winters there are brutal. One morning, I woke up to four feet of snow in my driveway – it was March. I’ve seen snow storms on Halloween and on Mothers’ Day. I’m sure they’ll like the first time they see the snow, but for some reason the novelty wears off after that. My marriage to a Central American for the past 37 years gives me a measure of moral authority in the discussion.

It seems cheaper and easier to me to just drive those refugees to the Mexican border and point them south and let Mexico deal with the influx of illegal immigrants. We’ll see if the Mexicans can sparkle from the opportunity.

Category: Illegal Immigrants