Gov. Mary Fallin talks to a caseworker and a minor being held at a temporary shelter at Fort Sill. PROVIDED PHOTO

In a letter to President Barack Obama, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin today called on the president to end the “secrecy” surrounding the use of military facilities around the country to hold illegal immigrant minors. One of those facilities, Fort Sill, is located in Oklahoma.

Fallin called on Obama to formally explain reports that run contrary to the messages his administration has sent to the public and why the administration asks the state of Oklahoma to indefinitely host a large population of illegal immigrants and to pay for their educational and health needs after they are released.

In her letter, Fallin wrote that:

• Vastly more than 1200 illegal immigrants have been held at Fort Sill, despite reports designed to indicate otherwise.
• The majority of the children held at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, will never be deported and will remain in the United States.
• At least 212 illegal immigrant children have already been placed with sponsors in Oklahoma where they are eligible under federal law to attend public school and receive emergency health services.
• The federal government does not plan to close the Fort Sill facility, contrary to the administration’s initial promises.

Governor Mary Fallin

Fallin wrote, “Provided these reports are true – and I have no reason to believe they are not – your administration appears to be pursuing a course that actively shifts the costs of Washington’s failed immigration policies onto our states. You are intentionally placing a greater burden on our already over-burdened education and health care systems. Even more disturbing, the federal government appears to have gone to great lengths to distract and confuse the public from discerning the true nature of these policies.”

Her letter ends by calling upon President Obama to deliver “an explanation for my constituents as to why the policy of your administration is to ask the state of Oklahoma to indefinitely host a large population of illegal immigrants and to pay for their educational and health needs after they are released from Fort Sill.”