A plan to house thousands of detained immigrants in Baldwin County may be hypothetical. Opposition to it is real, and a delegation of county officials will travel to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to make that point.

Even before their flight takes off, an Alabama Congressman plans to hold a "telephone town hall meeting" Tuesday evening.

The proposal came to light on Friday, when Time reported that it had obtained a draft memo in which an assistant secretary of the Navy outlined plans to build "temporary and austere" tent cities to house up to 25,000 detained migrants at two airfields. Outlying Field Wolf near Orange Beach and Outlying Field Silverhill are Navy property, little used in recent years. The Navy memo also covered potential housing sites in California and Arizona.

In 2016, near the end of President Barack Obama's presidency, officials with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services considered the possibility of housing undocumented minors at the unused airfields. Local and state officials expressed pervasive opposition and the plan never was developed.

Backlash has followed similar lines this time around. U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne, R-Fairhope, issued a statement Friday saying that "Housing anyone in tents on the Gulf Coast during the heat of summer and the heart of hurricane season would be inhumane and a major mistake." He said he would fight the plan. On Tuesday, Shelby said much the same.

Byrne announced on Tuesday that he will hold a telephone town hall meeting at 7:05 p.m. Central time, offering "a free and convenient way to interact with their Congressman."

The meeting is expected to last about an hour. "Among the various topics expected to be covered, Congressman Byrne will provide an update on the possibility of illegal immigrants being housed in Baldwin County." Anyone interested in dialing in can call 877-22908493 and enter the access code 112496. It'll also be possible to participate online.

It remains unclear whether the plan is a theoretical exercise, or something that could see rapid implementation. The "zero tolerance" policy applied to undocumented immigration by the administration of President Donald Trump is expected to drive a surge in the number of migrants in government custody, and the administration has asked the Pentagon to help provide the capacity to hold them.

Baldwin County Commissioner Tucker Dorsey said the uncertainty over the plan is one reason that he, fellow commissioner Chris Elliott and Baldwin County Sheriff Huey "Hoss" Mack are traveling to Washington Wednesday to make their feelings known.

"That's part of the reason for going to look everybody in the eye tomorrow," Dorsey said. "We're really trying to be out in front of it as much as possible."

"We have put a lot of water under the keel since Friday afternoon," said Elliott. He said he thinks there is real pressure to find sites to house detained migrants, but "I think we caught this earlier than we did last time."

Dorsey said officials are well versed in their arguments from 2016. Chief among them are the fact that the two airfields have virtually no infrastructure. Dorsey said the proposed 25,000 detainees would equal 13 percent of Baldwin County's population, inevitably putting a strain on local resources.

Furthermore, a hurricane could create a nightmare evacuation scenario. "To be able to evacuate ourselves is challenging enough," he said.

And there's another wrinkle, he said: Baldwin County and the Navy have a memorandum of understanding that says that in the event of a hurricane, the Silverhill airfield can be used as a staging area for recovery workers, equipment and National Guard troops. "That is part of our plan" for hurricane recovery, Dorsey said, and for it to be yanked away early in hurricane season would be "beyond challenging."

Elliott, meanwhile, has launched an online petition at www.change.org intended to reflect the "overwhelming opposition" of area residents to the plan. Among other arguments he makes at the site, he says that "Even assuming a large contingent of federal law enforcement would accompany such a facility, local law enforcement would be significantly burdened dealing with illegal immigrants facing deportation that would almost certainly attempt escape. The economic and environmental impact to our community could be staggering particularly near these facilities."

He also cites the emergency management plan mentioned by Dorsey, and says that building the tent camps "will leave our community unprepared and unequipped in the event of a major hurricane to deal with such a disaster."

By phone, Elliott said the commissioners aren't "trying to insert ourselves in the immigration debate." Based on practical infrastructure concerns alone, he said, the military must have better options than Baldwin County.

As of 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, nearly 1,300 people had signed the petition.

Dorsey said the itinerary for the trip to Washington is still taking shape. He expects to meet with Byrne, Sen. Richard Shelby and a representative of Homeland Security. He's also hoping to meet with the Department of Defense, he said.

In 2016, Shelby and fellow senator Jeff Sessions, now attorney general, issued a joint letter expressing "strong opposition" to plans to house migrants at the airfields.

On Tuesday, his office released a statement reiterating that stance: "The possible housing of 25,000 illegal immigrants at Navy airfields in Baldwin County is alarming," it read. "I have objected to similar efforts in the past. It would be ill-advised to allow individuals to seek refuge in tents on our coast during the height of hurricane season."

"I plan to do everything in my power to prevent this from happening on Alabama's coast," said Shelby's statement.

Elliott said Shelby's office and Byrne's office had been "great with setting up the meetings we need."

Note: This story was updated at 2:40 p.m. with additional comment from Baldwin County Commissioner Chris Elliott. It was updated at 4:05 p.m. with additional comment from the office of Sen. Richard Shelby.