U.S.

DHS Asks DOD To Help Shelter 12,000 Migrant Family Members

A spokesperson for the Pentagon said it received a request from DHS "to house and care for an alien family population of up to 12,000 people."

DHS Asks DOD To Help Shelter 12,000 Migrant Family Members
Getty Images
SMS

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has asked the Defense Department to provide shelter for thousands of migrants.

According to CNN, a spokesperson for the Pentagon said it received a request from DHS "to house and care for an alien family population of up to 12,000 people."

The outlet says the Defense Department was asked to identify any of its facilities that could hold that number of people. 

If none are available, the agency was asked to construct "semi-separate, soft-sided camp facilities capable of sheltering up to 4,000 people, at three separate locations."

The news comes a little more than a week after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to address family separation at the U.S. border. 

The order maintains the administration's "zero-tolerance" immigration policy, but it says families will be detained together "where appropriate and consistent with law and available resources."

Additional reporting from Newsy affiliate CNN.