DALLAS – County Judge Clay Jenkins is continuing a push to bring immigrant children separated from their families at the border to shelters in Dallas.
Jenkins wrote on Twitter Monday morning that he had had “good preliminary talks with federal agencies” on opening shelters in Dallas. Both Dallas ISD and the Catholic Diocese of Dallas had begun scouting potential shelter locations, Jenkins wrote.
Monday evening he followed up in another post saying Dallas ISD helped the county secure two potential sites for housing unaccompanied minors.
The democrat county judge first proposed the idea last Thursday at a protest of the “zero-tolerance” immigration policy that has yielded the prosecution of illegal immigrants and asylum-seekers, and thus the separation of families.
Children separated from their parents at the border are treated as unaccompanied minors. Scores of children are being held in shelters while they await a reunion with their families.
Jenkins has been lobbying with federal authorities to bring some of those kids to Dallas. He wrote on Twitter Friday, “if the feds will allow us, we will step up for kids.”
“These are children made in the image of God,” he wrote with a link to an article. “We don’t have to agree on politics to agree on that. They need our help. The hearts of the people of Dallas County and North Texas are big, as is our capacity. If the feds will allow us, we will step up for kids.”
Area non-profits are also keeping close watch on the border. Catholic Charities of Dallas assists unaccompanied minors with preparation to self-represent in civil proceedings in immigration court. The non-profit also helps minors and families with asylum claims.
Catholic Charities president and CEO Dave Woodyard says they are in close contact with their sister charity in the Rio Grande Valley, which deals more directly with the more than 10,000 unaccompanied minors, many who traveled alone, to the U.S.
“I can’t imagine in the faith community not thinking about this and being impacted by what’s going on,” Woodyard said. “We’re certainly anticipating that there is going to be a call and a need for help directly here in the North Texas area & throughout this region.”
On Father’s Day, Jenkins tweeted photos of his day spent with his family accompanied by a message for the federal government.
“The only thing that would make today better is for [the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security] to accept our offer to provide housing and compassionate care for unaccompanied and separated children in @DallasCountyTx,” he wrote.
Jenkins noted that care for immigrant children would not come at a cost to the Dallas County taxpayer. Rather, it would be funded by federal tax dollars.
In 2014, Jenkins led the charge to create two shelters for more than 2,000 unaccompanied immigrants fleeing from Central America – an event he called a “humanitarian crisis.” Those children never did come to the city.