The Little Rock Air Force Base is under consideration as a possible site to house immigration children temporarily, Staff Sergeant Regina Edwards confirmed to us.
The base will be assessed Thursday afternoon by government officials with the Department of Health and Human Services.
If selected by the department, temporary facilities will be built on base grounds.
The Hill reported that Senator John Boozman joined 12 other Republican senators asking the Trump administration to stop the "zero tolerance" policy which is causing immigrant children to be separated from their families.
"We support the administration's efforts to enforce our immigration laws, but we cannot support implementation of a policy that results in the categorical forced separation of minor children from their parents," the senators wrote in a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Clarke Tucker, Democratic candidate for Arkansas's Second Congressional District, said he doesn't support the use of the LRAFB to "implement this shameful policy."
"The fact that we would even need to discuss additional facilities to take care of the thousands of children being taken from their families is incomprehensible to me," Tucker said.
In a statement, Governor Asa Hutchinson said he is "supportive of a border policy that controls and protects our nation's border without tearing families apart."
"I am pleased that the President has taken executive action to prevent separating children from their parents," Hutchinson said. "If we can be helpful here in Arkansas to address border security and keep families together, we want to be."
Representative French Hill said that he supports President Trump's recent executive order keeping families together, but said the children "belong with their parents at the border, not hundreds of miles at the Little Rock Air Force Base or other locations in Arkansas."
State Rep. Charles Blake sent a letter to Hutchinson Wednesday asking that he rescind the deployment of Arkansas National Guard troops to the southern border.
HHS will conduct visits at several Department of Defense location for "potential use as temporary shelters for undocumented children."
President Donald Trump said he would sign an executive order to end family separation border, but it's unclear if it will have an impact on Thursday's visit to the Air Force base.
The article has been updated to add Gov. Hutchinson's latest statement and a statement from Rep. Hill.
