HOUSTON,Texas–A tidal wave of children who entered the U.S. illegally has left federal resources and facilities completely overwhelmed. As a result, the children have been sheltered in housing facilities in states across the country including Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, and California. As agents are in dire need of more space for the unaccompanied minors, a new shelter will reportedly open in downtown Tucson, Arizona.
According to local media outlet KVOA, President Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) gave a contract to a nonprofit organization called Southwest Key, which shelters children who cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.
The Southwest Key website says, “Southwest Key has been the largest provider of services to unaccompanied children in the United States for many years…During their stay, they receive counseling, legal and medical services, and attend an on-site school while awaiting the resolution of their legal case. The national goals for ideal length of stay in these shelters is 45 days as arrangements are made to either reunite the youth with relatives living in the United States or back in their home country.”
It continues, “The inspiring youth and parents we work with are seeking the American dream: equality, education, and a higher quality of life. At Southwest Key, we simply open the doors to opportunity so they can achieve these dreams.”
Breitbart Texas’ calls to the nonprofit were not immediately returned.
KVOA, however, reported that Southwest Key’s employees are currently not allowed to speak to news outlets, as they have reportedly signed a nondisclosure agreement with the HHS.
Additionally, HHS officials reportedly refuse to disclose how much sheltering the illegal immigrant children at Southwest Key will cost U.S. taxpayers.
The Southwest Key facility will not be the first Arizona-based housing unit for illegal immigrants recently apprehended near the Texas-Mexico border. As Breitbart Texas recently reported, officials were forced to resort to a makeshift housing center in Nogales, Arizona for hundreds of illegal immigrant children. Arizona officials are in dire need of medical supplies and living materials for the illegal immigrants.
The Associated Press (AP) reported that children at the new housing center in Nogales are sleeping on plastic cots while officials wait for 2,000 mattresses to arrive at the facility. Portable toilets and showers were also allegedly brought to warehouse, which has a capacity of 1,500. 800 children are expected to be living at the housing center by the end of this weekend, but the AP reported that 1,400 minors will ultimately be brought there.
Breitbart Texas contributing editor and border security expert Sylvia Longmire said the Arizona state government is being forced to accommodate the illegal immigrants since the federal government has not handled the situation appropriately.
“What’s most telling about the severity of this situation is the fact that both Republicans and Democrats are criticizing President Obama for the way his administration has been handling this crisis,” Longmire said. “US Rep. Raúl Grijalva, probably the most liberal congressman in Arizona, acknowledged to Arizona Public Media that even he wasn’t notified about the immigrant transfer to his state, and said the Obama administration was not handling the situation appropriately.”
Follow Kristin on Twitter @KristinBTate.
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