Child migrants get support from US citizens

Officials from California to Vermont, reacting to images of immigrant children sleeping in crowded conditions, are offering them shelter even as fellow lawmakers, sometimes in the same state, oppose the move. As 1,000 Texas National Guard troops under orders from Governor Rick Perry move to secure the state’s border with Mexico, Dallas County is awaiting word on whether the federal government will send children to an abandoned warehouse and school in Dallas, and a former school in Grand Prairie.

“Overall, people want to help,” said Elba Garcia, a county commissioner. “They understand a lot of these kids are refugees.” 

About 57,000 children fleeing gangs and drug cartels in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras have crossed the U.S. border illegally since October and turned themselves in to authorities. The deluge led to photos of motherless immigrants sleeping in crowded facilities and left the federal government scrambling to find housing for the children while they await legal proceedings.

With 3,000 more unaccompanied children expected to reach the U.S. border by the end of September, some governors, mayors and county officials are scouring their communities for potential housing options and asking charities for assistance. Others who oppose illegal immigration want the children quickly returned to their home countries and are passing resolutions banning them from local communities and denying permits to convert their facilities into youth shelters.

Overtures of help are coming in response to requests the federal government sent communities nationwide asking if they could provide 90,000 square feet (8,361 square meters) of space in anything from military facilities to unused shopping malls, for as much as four months, to accommodate as many as 1,000 children. The youths will stay in secure shelters while the Obama administration searches for relatives.

Some of the children are now staying in about 100 short- term shelters across the country.

As the political battle over what to do with the children continued, Senate Democrats unveiled an emergency spending package late yesterday that would provide $2.7 billion to aid in what Obama has called a “humanitarian crisis.” The president previously requested $3.7 billion in additional funds. 

The federal government will announce facilities in various states when they are identified as viable options, Kenneth J. Wolfe, a spokesman for the Health and Human Services Department, said by e-mail. “While only a few facilities will ultimately be selected,” he said, “a wide range of facilities are being identified and evaluated as temporary shelter space for children.”

To the north in Silicon Valley, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed are exploring how they can help care for unaccompanied children. In Milwaukee, Mayor Tom Barrett also spoke with charities and government agencies in a search for possible locations to house the immigrants. Davenport, Iowa, Mayor Bill Gluba asked officials to survey potential facilities. So did Burlington, Vermont, Mayor Miro Weinberger. In Massachusetts, Governor Deval Patrick offered two sites. The Obama administration will bear all the costs should they bring children to the area, he said. “We’ve received 400 e-mails from people and organizations who have offered their help and to donate time and books and toys,” Heather Nichols, the governor’s press secretary, said yesterday in a telephone interview. “There are people out there who don’t agree with us and who don’t want the children -- but most people are generally supportive.”

Courtesy: Bloomberg News