Old Article: FEMA Wants to House Migrant Children in Empty Big Box Stores

July 20, 2014

A few weeks ago, Fox News 7/WWNY-TV broke a story about an army base in Watertown, New York that was being considered as a short-term shelter facility to detain some of the unaccompanied minors who have crossed the southern border into the United States in recent months. A recruiting agency for healthcare professionals, Occupational Health Connections, was contracted to solicit applicants to help run it, and posted ads on Craigslist and EBAY seeking staffers to take care of the kids: “Unknown start date but will probably start after 4th of July. There will be little notice so we are trying to get resumes and licenses of those interested.” The posting went on to explain, “These are children refugees who are crossing the border to escape drug cartels and will need healthcare.”

Though intended to provide useful background information, this statement was incorrect: Unaccompanied minors who cross the border are not refugees. They might qualify for immigration relief, like asylum or special immigrant juvenile status, but that is different than being classed as a refugee—and quite difficult to obtain without an attorney, of whom there are very few. The well-intentioned but muddled ad underlines one of the most pressing elements of this crisis: Regardless of how we classify these children, how do we best care for them while they are in our custody? Fort Drum in Watertown was set aside as a shelter option, but the questions it raised remain.

Because the number of children from Central America recently arriving without parents or immigration papers has far surpassed predictions (doubling each year since 2011), the pre-existing detention shelters, mostly along the southern border, are packed to the gills: There is not nearly enough space for the more than 52,000 children who have arrived since October. As the government figures out what to do with all of these children, horrifying photos of unsanitary, unsafe, and inhumane conditions in the cramped facilities have surfaced. In a coordinated effort between FEMA and the Department of Health and Human Services, the government is scrambling to find adequate facilities wherever it can.

Though most often apprehended along the southern border, unaccompanied minors are often headed to live with family members or friends throughout the U.S., from Chicago to New York to San Francisco to Omaha to Atlanta. (In addition to being a journalist, I work at a high school for immigrant youth in Oakland, California, where dozens of unaccompanied minors are temporarily reunited with family members while awaiting their day in immigration court.) That their housing facilities would also be located outside the border regions makes sense in terms of resource allocation—there are only so many empty air force bases in the Rio Grande Valley—but it is deeply troubling to many Americans, as if the further inside the U.S. we detain the children, the more likely it is they’ll stay here for good.

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https://newrepublic.com/article/118781/fema-seeking-empty-big-box-stores-house-migrant-children