According to new reports, the US Navy is planning to build sprawling immigrant detention centers on military bases, amid a Trump crackdown at the US-Mexico border.
A draft memo obtained by Time magazine outlines plans to build “austere” tent camps to house 25,000 migrants.
According to the memo, the camps would be built on abandoned airfields in California, Alabama, and Arizona.
A camp near San Francisco is being designed for as many as 47,000 people.
Meanwhile, a Pentagon spokesman said the military had not been asked by the Department for Homeland Security (DHS) to draw up the specific plans, but was engaging in “prudent planning… should the DHS ask for assistance in housing adult illegal immigrants”.
On June 21, the US military said it had been asked by the government to get ready to house up to 20,000 immigrant children.
The US Navy memo estimates the force would spend $233 million to run a facility for 25,000 people for six-months.
The memo gives a sense of the knock-on effect of a “zero tolerance” immigration policy being pursued by the Trump administration, in an effort to deter migrants from Central and South America from attempting to cross into the US.
A decision by the administration to criminally prosecute every migrant crossing the US-Mexico border led to some 2,300 children being separated from their parents in May and June, and sparked a global wave of outrage.
President Donald Trump eventually backed down in the face of overwhelming public pressure and signed an order to halt the family separations, but he insisted he remained committed to his “zero tolerance” policy.
Migrant children taken from their parents are being held in facilities run by the Department of Health and Human Services. Images from one facility in a converted Walmart sparked outrage earlier this week, when they showed children held in wire mesh cages, sleeping on mats with foil blankets.
On June 21, a DHS official said that about 500 children had been reunited with their families since separations began in May, but rights groups remain concern that there is not adequate information to return many young children to their parents.
On June 22, President Trump brought the parents of victims of murders by undocumented immigrants to the White House, where he signed photographs of their late children and invited them to tell their stories.
The Philippines and US Navy are conducting joint patrols in the South China Sea, US officials announce.
The US rarely conducts joint patrols with its partners in the region.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the US would also increase rotations of its forces and military support in the Philippines.
Tensions have escalated in the South China Sea in recent years, with China steadily expanding its military presence in the region.
The joint naval patrols, which began last month, “contribute to the safety and security of the region’s waters,” Ash Carter told reporters after a meeting with Philippines President Benigno Aquino.
US troops and combat aircraft are currently participating in joint combat exercises with Philippines forces.
The announcement comes just days after a Philippine diplomat asked the US to help persuade China not to build on a South China Sea shoal important to Filipino fishermen.
The US has expanded its support for allies in the South Pacific in recent months, following China’s military build up – which includes construction of islands with airstrips.
China, which claims a wide swathe of the sea, has been reclaiming land around reefs.
The US and other countries have called for the halt of such activities, accusing it of militarization, but China has insisted that the construction is for civilian purposes.
Last week, US military officials announced they would send $40 million in military assistance to the Philippines to increase intelligence sharing, surveillance and naval patrols.
The house of Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez, who was killed after shooting dead four Marines in Chattanooga, Tennessee, has been searched by police.
The attacks at two US Navy sites on July 16 were being investigated as an “act of domestic terrorism”, said a district lawyer.
The FBI has said it has no indication of what Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez’s motive was at this stage.
A female sailor remains in a serious condition in hospital.
Two others were also injured.
Police have sealed off the area around the house in which the gunman lived as they attempt to piece together what led to the attacks.
Eye-witnesses said two women were led away from the house in the Hixson suburb of Chattanooga in handcuffs.
The FBI has said it has no indication that Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez, 24, was linked with any international terrorist organisations or that others were involved.
FBI agent Ed Reinhold told a news conference the gunman initially fired from inside his Ford Mustang at about 10:45 local time at a US Navy recruitment centre in the east of the city.
He then drove to a US Navy reserve centre about 7 miles away where he got out of his car before fatally shooting the Marines.
He was shot dead on Amnicola Highway.
President Barack Obama said the attack was “heartbreaking”.
A blog that Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez wrote was monitored by the SITE Intelligence Group which checks on extremist activity, and could provide a useful lead for investigators.
In a post written on July 13, he said: “This life is short and bitter” and that Muslims should not let “the opportunity to submit to allah… pass you by”.
Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez is believed to have been born in Kuwait, but has lived in the US for several years.
He was arrested earlier this year in Chattanooga for driving under the influence of alcohol.
Officials told AP that Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez was not known to federal law enforcement before the attacks.
He left this message in his school yearbook: “My name causes national security alerts. What does yours do?”
A statement from the US Department of Homeland Security said it was “enhancing the security posture at certain federal facilities, out of an abundance of caution”.
Pentagon is investigating an online threat allegedly made by Islamic State (ISIS) to about 100 of the US military personnel.
A list of names and addresses was posted on a website linked to ISIS alongside a call for them to be killed.
The group, which called itself the Islamic State Hacking Division, said it obtained the information by hacking servers and databases but US officials said most of the data was in the public domain.
It said the personnel named had participated in US missions against ISIS.
The group urged its supporters in the US to “take the final step” and “deal with” those named.
A US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “I can’t confirm the validity of the information, but we are looking into it.”
The US and its allies have been conducting air strikes against ISIS militants in Syria and Iraq since last September.
The US is accusing China of reckless mid-air intercept after a Chinese fighter came perilously close to a US military patrol plane over international waters east of China’s Hainan Island, the Pentagon has said.
Pentagon’s spokesman John Kirby said that the US had protested to the Chinese military over the mid-air intercept, calling the fighter pilot’s actions “unsafe and unprofessional”.
John Kirby said that the Chinese aircraft came within 3ft of the US Navy plane.
Correspondents say that it is the fourth such incident since March.
So far there has been no comment about the reported near-miss from China.
Rear Admiral John Kirby said that the incident happened on August 19, when an armed Chinese Su-27 fighter intercepted a US Navy P-8 Poseidon patrol aircraft that was on a routine mission.
“We have registered our strong concerns to the Chinese about the unsafe and unprofessional intercept, which posed a risk to the safety and the well-being of the air crew, and was inconsistent with customary international law,” he said.
Armed Chinese Su-27 fighter intercepted a US Navy P-8 Poseidon patrol aircraft that was on a routine mission over international waters
John Kirby said that the Chinese maneuver detracted from efforts to improve American relations with China’s military.
The warplane flew close to the surveillance aircraft three times, he said, flying above, underneath and alongside it. At one point it performed “a barrel roll” in an apparent display of its weapons.
John Kirby said that the Chinese maneuver was “very, very close, very dangerous”.
Near-misses between aircraft and naval vessels of the US and China are commonplace off the coast of China.
In December China said one of its warships “encountered” a US guided missile cruiser, confirming US reports of a near-collision in the South China Sea.
Shortly before this incident China set up an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea, and said that aircraft flying through the zone must follow its rules, including filing flight plans.
The US, Japan and South Korea have rejected China’s zone, and flown undeclared military aircraft through it. The US has called the move a unilateral attempt to change the status quo in the region.
The most serious incident in recent years however took place in 2001, when a Chinese fighter jet collided with a US Navy EP-3 spy plane, killing the Chinese pilot.
The US Navy has christened USS Gerald R. Ford – the first of its new Ford-class of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.
The new super-carrier, which is only 70% complete, is named after late President Gerald Ford.
It is the first of 10 carriers designed to get more fighter planes into the sky more quickly, but with 1,000 fewer crew members.
The USS Gerald R. Ford is reportedly about 22% over budget, at a cost of almost $13 billion
It comes at a time of growing budget pressures for the US.
The carrier, which will weigh 100,000 tonnes, is reportedly due to be finished in 2016 when sea trials are likely to begin.
The ship is said to be the most technologically advanced aircraft carrier the US has built.
“She is truly a technological marvel,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm Jonathan Greenert said.
Gerald Ford’s daughter, Susan Ford Bales, smashed the traditional bottle of champagne into the ship at a ceremony in Virginia on Saturday.
Gerald Ford’s daughter, Susan Ford Bales, smashed the traditional bottle of champagne into the ship at a ceremony in Virginia
Former Vice-President Dick Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld were among those leading tributes to the 38th US president.
“He was a man of courage and solid values… and I know the men and women who sail this ship will bring those same qualities in their service to our nation,” Donald Rumsfeld told the audience.
Delays with the ship’s completion mean the US Navy will be reduced to a 10-carrier fleet, following the USS Enterprise’s deactivation last year.
Fewer crew members mean the Ford-class carrier is expected to save $4 billion over the ship’s 50-year life span, according to the ship’s website.
It is designed to increase its ability to launch fighter jets and helicopters by 25%, generate more electrical power and allow the use of unmanned drones
Gerald Ford, who took office after Richard Nixon quit over the Watergate scandal in 1974, died in December 2006 at the age of 93.
Several people have been shot by a gunman at the Washington Navy Yard, a naval installation in the US capital, the US Navy has said.
The US Navy confirmed police had entered an office building in search of a gunman, after shots were fired at 08:20 local time.
Local news agencies said as many as three people were wounded, including one police officer.
Personnel at the yard have been ordered to “shelter in place”, the Navy said.
Several people have been shot by a gunman at the Washington Navy Yard
The Navy said shots were reported to have been fired at the Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters at the yard in south-east Washington DC.
Dozens of emergency vehicles have converged on the site, and helicopters have been flying overhead.
Flights in and out of Washington DC’s Reagan National Airport down the Potomac River from the Navy Yard have been suspended to accommodate search helicopters.
As many as 3,000 people work at the command, which engineers, purchases, builds and maintains ships and submarines for the Navy.
The Washington Navy Yard is the US Navy’s oldest shore installation, first opened in the early 19th Century, according to the Navy.
A US Navy F-18 fighter jet has crashed into apartment in the residential neighborhood of Virginia Beach, Virginia, local media reports.
The two crew members ejected but it is not yet known if there are any civilian casualties.
A Navy spokesman told local news station WAVY that the plane went down just before 12:30 and two crew members ejected safely.
TV News footage showed smoke rising from numerous homes and the flaming wreckage lying on the ground.
A US Navy F-18 fighter jet has crashed into apartment in the residential neighborhood of Virginia Beach
Reports said the plane may have hit an apartment block, with photos showing black smoke rising from behind houses.
Interstate 264 has been temporarily closed in both directions.
The plane is reported to have been based at the naval air station at Oceana, Virginia.
Local news station WTKR reports that a significant amount of damage has been done to an apartment building located near the centre of town.
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