This is not a joke: the president wants to house illegal aliens on our nation’s military installations. I won’t stand for it and have introduced the Resist Executive Amnesty on Defense Installations Act, which will prohibit any illegal alien from being housed on a military installation within the United States.

With the growing global threats of terrorism, how could any president think that housing illegal immigrants on military installations is the right thing to do?

Our military’s core mission of defending our nation must not be jeopardized by the fallout from this president’s failed immigration policies. Housing illegal immigrants on military installations like Fort Hood harms our military forces by causing distractions on their home bases, which are set up to train the best military in the world.

If the president’s scheme is enacted, precious military manpower will have to be diverted from their essential responsibilities to tend to illegal immigrants. Additionally, housing illegal immigrants near live firing ranges, large military tanks and other combat-ready equipment is irresponsible and unsafe. All this keeps the military from being the effective peacekeeping force we need them to be.

The idea of housing illegal immigrants on installations is another insulting blow this administration has delivered to our brave military. While the president broadly pardons five million illegal immigrants, he has allowed our Army to become the smallest since before World War II, our Navy the smallest since 1916 and our smallest Air Force since its inception in 1947. He has also cancelled or delayed nearly 50 critical national security procurement programs over two terms. In total, President Obama has cut defense spending by more than $1 trillion in his seven years in office.

Not only is our military smaller than it was before President Obama took office, our readiness, in the words of former Army Chief of Staff General Odierno, is “at historic lows.” Only one-third of Army Brigade Combat Teams are ready for contingency operations. In the Air Force, less than 50 percent of the service’s combat air forces meet full-spectrum readiness requirements. Furthermore, the Navy has extended deployments, increased operational tempos and shortened, eliminated or deferred training and maintenance.

Housing illegal aliens on our military installations will only heighten these challenges at a time when our nation faces a more complex array of threats than ever before. Using military bases to support the president’s immigration agenda when their resources have already been stretched thin is unacceptable. Our country is at war with radical Islamic extremism at home and abroad, and our military assets must be used to train and prepare our troops, not house illegal aliens.

Our military deserves better than what the president has given them. The READI Act positively impacts military installations across the nation and puts the president on notice that Congress supports our warriors and won’t stand for policies that jeopardize their readiness. We need to put our troops before illegal immigrants!