ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Some of our federal lawmakers are concerned about one of our military bases possibly being used to house migrants. 

In a statement Monday, Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury said there’s no situation in which the use of Kirtland Air Force Base is appropriate for immigration purposes. Now, she and the rest of our D.C. delegation say they want answers but aren’t getting any.

“I don’t think this is something that’s been well-thought-out,” said U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich. 

In a New York Times report in February, Kirtland was one of several military installations on the list. Fort Bliss in El Paso was also named. 

After the report, the New Mexico Congressional Delegation spoke out in opposition. 

“So the fundamental problem here is that this is a White House that is sort of doing this stuff on the fly. They’re not really thinking through the plans,” Heinrich said. 

The delegation sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Rep. Gabe Vasquez says resources should not be siphoned away for this.

“It provides a critical mission for the United States and our national security research, development and testing, in particular, of nuclear weapons, a lot of other nontraditional weapons testing that happens at Kirtland Air Force Base,” said Vasquez. 

They’re also concerned about the people who live and work on base at Sandia National Labs. Vasquez says so far they’ve gotten no response to the letter. 

There’s still so many unknowns like where the migrants would be housed, how many there’d be and how long they’d stay. Vasquez says this is another example of a lack of communication. 

“A lack of transparency, lack of information that’s coming down to us. I want to see a lack of respect for the constituents who voted for us, because it’s our job to be able to deliver that information to our constituents about what’s happening in their backyards,” Vasquez said. 

Getting any kind of information on this has been challenging. Kirtland Air Force Base referred us to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE referred us to Homeland Security. Homeland Security said there’s nothing to share at this time.

KOB 4 also reached out to Fort Bliss and are still waiting to hear back.