After a visit to Buckley Space Force Base  Monday, U.S. Representative Jason Crow told reporters he was assured by federal officials there that there are “no plans” to use the sprawling military installation east of Aurora for the detention of immigrants targeted as part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation plan.

Crow, a Democrat who represents Aurora in Congress, toured the base Monday following an announcement last week by military officials that facilities at the base were being used by the Department of Homeland Security, including as “a temporary holding location for the receiving, holding, and processing of criminal aliens.” As a member of Congress, Crow has access to the base, which he said he visited after he “did not get good information” in response to inquiries last week.

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“There is a footprint of federal law enforcement operating out of this facility,” Crow said at a press conference near the base. “I have been told that it will not be used to house immigrants and detainees, and it will only be used as a staging location for law enforcement and a coordination center for ongoing operations.”

Crow said he spoke with officials from Homeland Security Investigations, an arm of DHS, who were in charge of the operation center. He was told that multiple federal law enforcement agencies, in what was characterized as a “whole-of-government” effort, are to be involved. Additional details, like the number of agents present and the targets of their operations, were classified as “law enforcement sensitive,” Crow said.

“I wish I had more to report,” he added. “I will, of course, continue to seek more information, working through Homeland Security and the Department of Defense, to figure out the true nature of these operations, to see how they evolve, (and) continue to conduct the oversight that’s necessary to make sure that our service members are being used properly, that there aren’t any unlawful activities that occur, and of course, the activities that do occur are consistent with the values of Colorado.”

In his second term, Trump has vowed to carry out the “largest domestic deportation operation in American history.” By his own estimation, his “deport them all” agenda would apply to more than 20 million people, though credible estimates put the true population that could be targeted at around 12 million.

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Any program at that scale would require massive expansions of ICE’s detention capacity. Stephen Miller, Trump’s top immigration adviser, told the New York Times last year that would shift from targeted enforcement operations to mass roundups, involving what he called “vast holding facilities that would function as staging centers” — plans that critics of Trump’s deportation agenda have likened to concentration camps.

Aurora is home to a permanent ICE facility, a processing center operated by private prison company The GEO Group, which has a total potential capacity of 1,532 detainees. The city has been singled out by Trump and his anti-immigration allies since last year, when a series of false and exaggerated claims that a Venezuelan gang had “invaded and conquered” the city spread on social media. During a Colorado campaign stop in October, Trump promised to launch an effort, which he said would be called “Operation Aurora,” to round up and deport certain immigrants.

Crow reiterated his support for detaining violent criminals and deporting them if they are in the country unlawfully, but he called mass deportations of immigrants lacking required authorization — who number over 150,000 in Colorado — an “immoral” and “counterproductive” effort that the military should have no part in. He also cited concerns about the strain that the use of military resources for Trump’s deportation program would place on an “otherwise over-taxed force.”

“There’s no doubt in my mind that being asked to add a mission like this would absolutely have an impact on our core national security missions, and the morale of the force,” Crow said.

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