Okla. delegation decries holding kids at Fort Sill

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Members of Oklahoma’s all-Republican congressional delegation are urging President Barack Obama to reconsider using Fort Sill to house unaccompanied minors from Central America who have been caught trying to entering the country illegally.

U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe and all five of Oklahoma’s U.S. House members released a joint statement on Monday opposing a decision by the Department of Defense to extend the use of temporary shelters at several military installations, including Fort Sill, through January 2015.

Hundreds of teenagers have been housed at a troop barracks at the southwest Oklahoma Army post after detention centers near the border were overwhelmed with an influx of young people crossing the border, mostly from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.

Most of the children are being placed with temporary sponsors within the United States.