East Bay congressman assails proposal for migrant tent city in Concord

Former munition bunkers are seen on the land housing the GoMentum Station, Honda's 5,000-acre self-driving car proving grounds at the old Concord Naval Weapons Station, in Concord, CA Wednesday, June 1st, 2016. Former munition bunkers are seen on the land housing the GoMentum Station, Honda's 5,000-acre self-driving car proving grounds at the old Concord Naval Weapons Station, in Concord, CA Wednesday, June 1st, 2016. Photo: Michael Short / Special To The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Michael Short / Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 30 Caption Close East Bay congressman assails proposal for migrant tent city in Concord 1 / 30 Back to Gallery

An East Bay congressman told the U.S. Navy on Tuesday that it should abandon any plans to build a massive detention center for undocumented migrants in Concord amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord, wrote to Navy Secretary Richard Spencer in response to a Time magazine report that detailed what was described as a draft memo submitted for Spencer’s approval. The memo reportedly outlined a contingency plan to build temporary tent cities to house immigrants in the South as well as up to 47,000 people at the former Naval Weapons Station in Concord.

“First and foremost, as the former Mayor of Concord and longtime Concord resident, I know that this proposal is antithetical to the values of our community,” DeSaulnier wrote. He said the proposed site “is hugely problematic and is currently both unsafe and inhabitable.”

The congressman said parts of the site have environmental hazards, with the Navy still completing a cleanup.

“There is no current sewer, power, or water infrastructure on the land to allow for any human habitation,” he wrote. “Forcing anybody to live on this land right now is more than dangerous — it is immoral.”

Also Tuesday, a group of more than a dozen Northern California members of Congress called on Spencer to release the proposal.

“We are understandably concerned that such a drastic proposal is being considered without community input or notification,” their letter stated.

The Trump administration in early May instituted a “zero-tolerance” policy for those who illegally cross the southern border of the U.S., leading to an influx of immigrants charged in criminal court and, as a result, more than 2,300 children separated from their parents.

Under immense pressure, President Trump signed an executive order last week calling for detaining families together, though a judge must decide whether that squares with a legal case that ensures children are not held indefinitely.

Johnny Michael, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Defense, said last week that department officials are “conducting prudent planning and are looking at all available regions should DHS ask for assistance in housing adult illegal immigrants. At this time there has been no request” from the Department of Homeland Security.

The Concord Naval Weapons Station is home to one of the largest redevelopment projects in the Bay Area, a scheme that rivals San Francisco’s Hunters Point Shipyard project in size and ambition. The current proposal calls for building up to 12,200 housing units and 6.1 million square feet of commercial space on about 2,300 acres of the former military base.

In addition, the East Bay Regional Park District will receive 2,600 acres for what will become the Concord Hills Regional Park. The Navy is scheduled to begin transferring land to the city in late 2018.

Concord City Council will hold a special meeting on the reported Navy proposal on Wednesday at 1 p.m. in City Hall.

“The city of Concord, along with local partners, has been in the process of acquiring this land from the Navy for 12 years,” DeSaulnier wrote in his letter. “If the Navy’s plan is to either delay or cancel that transfer, there could be legal ramifications.”

Hamed Aleaziz is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: haleaziz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @haleaziz