Hill Air Force Base may soon be used to hold immigrants who President Donald Trump’s administration says are in the U.S. illegally, according to news reports. The base in northern Utah would act as a detention facility before the administration deports those detainees.
The move, if it comes to fruition, would put the Beehive State squarely in the Trump administration’s path of executing mass deportations.
But if the base in Davis County is actually being considered to become a deportation hub, as The New York Times reported Friday, its officials haven’t gotten any formal orders.
“As it’s speculation, it wouldn’t be appropriate to comment,” Hill spokesperson Kendahl Johnson told The Salt Lake Tribune. “We’ve not received anything official.”
Trump has promised to deport thousands of immigrants, and his administration, according to The Times, is creating a deportation hub capable of holding 10,000 people at Fort Bliss, which sits along the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas. Hill Air Force Base could then be modeled after the deportation facility created at the Texas installation.
Johnson did not respond to questions about possible detention plans, whether Hill was preparing to hold detainees or how it could house them.
According to a spokesperson for Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, the governor — who was in Washington on Friday — is in contact with Hill leadership, who “have not received a request for information or any directions at this point.”
Both the Salt Lake City office for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. attorney’s office for Utah referred questions about ICE’s operations to the agency’s national office, which declined to provide answers about plans for future detention centers in the state.
“As a matter of policy, ICE does not comment on specific tactics, capabilities or operational details,” Richard Beam, a regional spokesperson for the agency, wrote in an email.
GOP delegation silent
No member of Utah’s all-Republican congressional delegation responded to requests from The Tribune for an interview or comment on the possibility that Hill could be turned into a detention center.
Davis County Commissioner John Crofts, meanwhile, said the commission did not have any details on the potential use of the base as a holding place for immigrants without permanent legal status.
“Utah has a strong relationship with our military partners, and I respect their role in national defense and local support,” Crofts said. “... This is a local issue with potential impacts on our community, and we plan to put it on our radar and gather more details to fully understand the situation.”
Crofts added that he’s hosting a town hall next month in Farmington and would answer questions from residents once the commission has more information on the proposal.
“I speak Spanish and welcome any Spanish-speaking residents to reach out to me,” he said. “I am happy to discuss this or any other concerns in both English and Spanish.”
Help White House ‘any way we can’
Last February, after a short visit to the southern border, Cox announced that he was sending members of the Utah National Guard and the Utah Highway Patrol to the border. The effort was projected to cost Utahns $150,000. Guard members were to conduct maintenance on military equipment, while troopers “specialized in drug investigations” were being deployed.
“Open borders threaten our national security and if the president and Congress won’t solve the influx of people and drugs, states have to step up,” Cox said then, while former President Joe Biden was in office. “Right now, Texas needs our help, and we’re grateful to our National Guard members, state troopers and their families for their willingness to serve and keep us safe.”
When asked in December if he was willing to deploy the National Guard to help with immigration-related efforts again, Cox said he had not yet had discussions on the matter but suggested ICE was incapable of carrying out mass deportations on its own.
Ahead of Trump taking office for his second term, Cox laid out his own plan to speed up the deportation of immigrants without legal status who have committed crimes and has said his administration is dedicated to assisting the White House’s efforts in that regard “any way we can.”
The Utah Legislature is likewise weighing bills this session toward that end. Among the policies lawmakers are eyeing is one that would expand which immigrants charged with crimes would face deportation.
The Utah chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has called state officials’ plans “extreme,” and expressed concerns that they will lead to due process violations and discriminatory policing.
