Is Fresno next home for unaccompanied migrant children stuck at U.S.-Mexico border?
Some Fresno city leaders are offering to make the city’s Convention Center available to house unaccompanied migrant children as the minors continue to arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border.
In a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, leaders say the city of Fresno’s “doors are open” and leaders are ready to assist.
The letter dated Tuesday from Fresno City Council Vice President Nelson Esparza is also signed by Councilmembers Esmeralda Soria and Miguel Arias.
Leaders say they recognize the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to “meet the operational needs and ensure that these children are welcomed in a safe and humane manner,” according to the letter.
“Should the Department of Homeland Security require a further expansion of temporary infrastructure in order to accommodate the current influx of children, the City of Fresno is prepared to partner with the Federal Government in order to make our Convention Center facilities available,” the letter reads.
The offer from the city of Fresno comes as the city of Long Beach’s Convention Center prepares to receive unaccompanied migrant minors this week. The makeshift shelter plans to house siblings as young as 3 years old until Aug. 2. In Long Beach’s case, the Biden administration asked city officials for help to house the minors. Children are also being housed at the San Diego Convention Center.
In Fresno’s case, Esparza said the offer to assist was prompted by a desire to help alleviate the “humanitarian crisis” at the border, which he described as a “heartbreaking situation.”
“If we can be of help in our own way where we have the space, and we are able to share that space temporarily in order to help alleviate that crisis — the humanitarian crisis — than I think most Fresnans would agree that we should,” he told The Bee.
Soria and Arias, he said, share the same sentiment about the crisis at the border. The matter was not discussed in a City Council meeting before sending the letter.
“This was just something I felt a sense of urgency on and wanted to get something out the door,” he told The Bee.
However, he said if the federal government eventually accepts the offer to help, and if there is a vote required, he said he “would pull together the votes at that point.” He said it was not an open-meeting law violation as the letter-signers don’t represent a majority of the seven-member council.
He made clear the offer is only to assist with space. Typically, he said, the federal government picks up the tab with these kinds of partnerships.
A spokesperson with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families didn’t say whether the agency would consider Fresno’s offer. HHS is the agency in charge of overseeing the temporary shelters.
“HHS will keep Congress, state, and local officials informed of future actions concerning (unaccompanied children) matters throughout our care-provider network,” the spokesperson said.
Local governments should be cautious with these partnerships
Lauren Heidbrink, an associate professor at Cal State Long Beach with expertise on child migration, said she wasn’t familiar with Fresno politics so she couldn’t comment on the local motivations.
“I think that there are many communities who are expressing an impulse to help,” she told The Bee.
But at the same time, she said, city council members “should be asking critical questions about how these centers are staffed, how they are managed, how they are monitored,” rather than signing on “in the spirit of being helpful.”
“As I understand, these influx facilities are not being licensed by state child welfare authorities, nor do they fall under the purview of the Flores agreement, which is a longstanding agreement around the basic level of care provided to unaccompanied children, so that raises concerns,” she said.
Research has shown that even brief detention can cause long-term mental health problems on children, Heidbrink said. Therefore, she said, it’s critical that city leaders ask questions about the type of care the minors would receive and for how long they would be housed.
The typical average process for reunification is anywhere from 30 to 47 days, she said. “This is when the resources are in place and there’s adequate infrastructure and trained staff. These are not in place in these impromptu facilities.”
Advocate calls for swift processing
Still, Jennifer Podkul, vice president for advocacy and policy at Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), said unaccompanied minors must be removed quickly from Custom and Border facilities at the border. She described those facilities as “wholly inappropriate for children to remain in for more than a short time.”
Podkul welcomed the news about the city of Fresno being open to house unaccompanied minors.
“Opening more facilities run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to house children until they can be released to a sponsor ensures that children are moved more quickly to more appropriate care,” she said in an email to The Bee. “These temporary facilities, however, must have guardrails in place to ensure that children are well cared for and released as quickly as possible to family members.”
Unaccompanied migrant children arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2014, 2018 and again in 2021, Heidbrink said. A Trump-era policy, known as Title 42, that’s still in place has fueled the increase of unaccompanied minors at the border today by refusing the entry of all asylum-seeking adults, causing many families to separate.
“City leadership should question the Biden administration policies that are producing this latest influx of children,” Heidbrink told The Bee.
This story was originally published April 21, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
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