Thread: California city rejects child illegal alien shelter

California city rejects child immigrant shelter

The Associated Press July 23, 2014 Updated 1 hour ago

ESCONDIDO, CALIF. — A north San Diego suburb's planning commission on Tuesday ratified its rejection of a proposed 96-bed shelter for unaccompanied immigrant children who are arrested by the Border Patrol, while the American Civil Liberties Union said it was mulling a legal challenge.

About 200 people packed into City Hall chambers, and a large, overflow crowd cheered and jeered below an outdoor speaker as Escondido commissioners heard impassioned pleas, mostly from people urging them to reconsider.

"Shame on you!" members of the crowd shouted after the panel voted 6-0 to uphold its decision from last month.

The proposal has sparked the latest controversy over immigration in Escondido, a city of 150,000 that has been rocked during the last decade by disagreement over how to treat people who are in the country illegally.

The audience largely supported the proposal, a contrast from last month's sharply divided crowd when the outcome was less certain.

Shelter supporters waved signs that read, "Migrants' Lives Matter" and "Don't Be Afraid of the Children."

The commissioners held no discussion among themselves after nearly three hours of public comment. Anyone can appeal to the City Council, setting up another likely showdown in August.

David Loy, legal director of the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties, said at a news conference earlier Tuesday that Escondido may be violating state and federal fair-housing laws against discrimination. Southwest Key Programs, the nonprofit group that would operate the shelter, sent representatives to the news conference and said it was being advised by the ACLU.

Southwest Key contracts with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to operate child-immigrant shelters across the country, including a temporary facility at Naval Base Ventura County, north of Los Angeles.

Alexia Rodriguez, Southwest Key's vice president of immigrant children's services and legal counsel, said the San Antonio-based group was unaware of Escondido's fraught history with illegal immigration when it did a nationwide search for shelter space in response to a surge of illegal crossings by unaccompanied children from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. The group identified several sites in Escondido before settling on a nursing home that closed last year.

The ACLU's Loy said traffic and other concerns raised about the proposed shelter didn't prevent the city from allowing the nursing home to operate.

Joyce Masterson, the city's director of economic development and community relations, said the ACLU has not told the city of any plans for legal action when asked to comment. The city complied with the ACLU's requests for information on the topic, Masterson said.

Escondido, whose population is 49 percent Latino, has repeatedly embroiled itself in immigration debates since 2006, when the City Council voted to require landlords to check tenants' immigration status.

A federal judge blocked the ordinance, which never took effect.

Read more here: http://www.modbee.com/2014/07/23/345...#storylink=cpy

http://www.modbee.com/2014/07/23/345...cts-child.html

Send them home, secure the border enforce our immigration laws

City affirms vote to deny migrant shelter
By Edward Sifuentes12:43 p.m.July 22, 2014Updated9:49 p.m.


Ron Cole holds a sign as he and other supporters of illegal immigrant children wait to speak during a meeting of Escondido Planning Commission at Escondidio City Hall on Tuesday. Ron Cole holds a sign as he and other supporters of illegal immigrant children wait to speak during a meeting of Escondido Planning Commission at Escondidio City Hall on Tuesday. Hayne Palmour IV

ESCONDIDO — The Escondido Planning Commission voted Tuesday night to affirm its denial of a proposed 96-bed shelter for migrant children who have come into the country illegally despite the pleas from dozens of people to approve the project.

The Planning Commission rejected a request last month by Southwest Key Properties, a contractor for the federal government, to open the shelter at the site of a former nursing home on Avenida del Diablo. The shelter would temporarily house the migrant children.

Last month, hundreds of people attended the meeting, most of them opposing the shelter. But Tuesday's crowd was made up predominantly of Latino residents and supporters of the shelter.



More than 50 people spoke in favor and about 15 against it.

"I strongly believe that a strong nation is guided by its principles, especially towards children," said Escondido resident John Valdez.

The Planning Commission voted 6-0 with one commissioner absent against the proposal without much comment.

After the vote, many in the audience shouted, "Shame! Shame on you!"

The applicant has 10 days to appeal the decision to the City Council. Earlier in the day, representatives from Southwest Key declined to say whether they would appeal.

Over 200 people were inside the City Council chambers with many more standing outside the building.

One of the residents who spoke against the shelter said the location in a residential neighborhood was not appropriate.

"It's not our problem to have it next to our home," said Meghan Quade who lives near the facility.

Most of the children are traveling alone from Central America where gang violence and poverty has sent tens of thousands of them fleeing their homes in recent months.

Under federal law, these children are held in shelters while authorities look for their families and decide whether to grant them asylum or deport them.

Earlier in the day, representatives for several other religious and immigrant rights groups attended a news conference asking the commission to reconsider its decision.

"We have a legal and a moral duty to treat those children with compassion and dignity as our government and our legal system provides them with a due process, under the law, to determine whether they have a right to remain in the United States," said David Loy, legal director for the San Diego branch of the American Civil Liberties Union.

A few opponents of the shelter who were at the event spoke against the proposal saying the government was already spending too much money on illegal immigrants.

"It's not about race, it's about throwing money down a hole," said Rigo Avelar, a San Marcos resident.

Prior to the meeting, over 100 people participated in a march from the Escondido swap meet to City Hall in support of the shelter. Many of them carried signs that read "Protect the Children" and "Compassion is an American Value."

Organizers of the march said the shelter would not only provide safe housing for the children it would also provide over 150 well-paying jobs and boost the city's economy.

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/...ws-conference/

Second article added to the HP
http://www.alipac.us/content.php?r=3...-alien-shelter

Southwest Key Programs

Our Mission
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Mission /Misión

Opening doors to opportunity so individuals can achieve their dreams

Abriendo puertas de oportunidad para que todas las personas logren sus sueños
Vision / Visión

Every person has an opportunity to thrive in a community that fosters success and social equity

Toda persona tiene la oportunidad de desarrollarse en una comunidad que contríbuye a el éxito y la igualdad social
Values / Valores

Responsiveness | Innovation | Diversity | Excellence

Resolución | Innovación | Diversidad | Excelencia

Thousands of youth:
...diverted from prisons, jails, and institutions
...immigrant children reunified with their families
...children provided with safe 24/7 shelter and therapeutic services
...youth prevented from dropping out of school
...adults empowered to provide for their families

Overview

Southwest Key Programs is a national nonprofit organization providing transformative education, innovative safe shelters and alternatives to incarceration for over 200,000 youth and their families annually, while creating opportunities for their families to become self-sufficient. 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.

Southwest Key Programs ranks 5th among the Top Hispanic Nonprofits in America, employing a creative and diverse staff of over 2,200 employees. Because of Southwest Key's work, thousands of youth have been diverted from prisons, jails, and institutions, enabling them to stay at home with their families and out of trouble. Southwest Key has reunified thousands of immigrant children with their families and provided these unaccompanied minors with 24-hour care and education. Southwest Key is one of only three nonprofits in Austin to be accredited by the Council on Accreditation, the nation's leading human service accrediting body.

From the start, a cornerstone of all of our programs has been culturally-relevant education. Since 1999 we have refined our model by operating leading alternative schools throughout Texas, preventing hundreds of youth from dropping out of school by providing them with individualized education in a therapeutic setting. In 2009, East Austin College Prep opened at Southwest Key's El Centro de Familia campus.

Just as we help our families to become self-sufficient, Southwest Key is taking innovative steps toward greater self-sufficiency itself. We operate a number of small businesses, including: Cafe del Sol, The Blooming Florist, Southwest Key Green Energy & Construction, Southwest Key Maintenance, and Southwest Key Workforce Development. These social enterprises serve a double bottom line creating jobs for low income residents while bringing in funds to support the nonprofit mission. Our Social Enterprise Complex, creating over 100 jobs and housing these and other workforce development initiatives, was the first of its kind in the country when construction was completed at our East Austin Headquarters in 2011.

Southwest Key's national headquarters is located at El Centro de Familia in Austin, Texas. Southwest Key completed construction on the $8 million facility and launched the East Austin Children's Promise in an economically disadvantaged neighborhood in 2007 to increase the educational attainment and employability of residents, leading to higher paid employees, increased tax revenues and civic and economic engagement of residents. El Centro is home to a Boys & Girls Club, GED and ESL classes, the AMD Community Technology Center, an outdoor amphitheater and Latino arts program, and a variety of educational programs and recreational facilities.

Southwest Key founder and current CEO, Dr. Juan Sanchez, is proud to have built one of the most diverse nonprofits in the country, where over 90 percent of Southwest Key's employees, including most top managers and board members, represent the cultural diversity of the youth we serve.
Fast Facts about Southwest Key

Founded: 1987
Legal Status: Nonprofit, charitable 501(c)(3) Social Service, Education and Community Development Organization
Staff: Over 2,200 nationwide
Programs: Southwest Key operates 68 juvenile justice and family programs, safe shelters for immigrant children, schools, and community building initiatives
Number Served: Over 200,000 kids and their families annually
Headquarters: Austin, Texas
Locations: Texas, California, New York, Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin
FY 20013-14 Budget: $150 million
Funding: Grants and contracts by U.S. federal, state, and local government, foundations, and corporations; special events; private contributions
Social Enterprises: Southwest Key Enterprises, Southwest Key Cafe del Sol, Southwest Key Maintenance, Southwest Key Green Energy & Construction, Southwest Key Workforce Development, The Blooming Florist, Southwest Key Youth, Family, & Transportation LLC

http://www.swkey.org/about/overview/