White House Tries to Ease Governors’ Worries on Child Migrants

Wall Street Journal

By Laura Meckler

July 22, 2014

White House Tries to Ease Governors’ Worries on Child Migrants 

Responding to anxiety in the states about the child migration crisis, the White House worked to ease governors concerns in a conference call Tuesday.

States and communities across the country have expressed concern about the opening of shelters to temporarily hold children who have crossed the U.S. border alone, and about children who are then sent to their states to live with family members while their deportation cases unfold.

On Tuesday, administration officials explained that states are notified about shelters that house these children, but said privacy restrictions do not allow them to notify governors when individual children are placed with families in their states, according to people who participated in the call.

The White House said the call was meant to “discuss the administration’s comprehensive response to the humanitarian situation at the border.” And the White House said officials also highlighted a significant drop in children trying to cross the border from June to July. But the official readout of the call also said: “Officials also addressed several questions about the notification process for governors when unaccompanied minors are placed in their states.”

Overall, the call was cordial and respectful, according to one Republican who participated. But afterwards, the GOP governor of Maine, Paul LePage, issued a statement expressing dismay that he was only just told that eight children had been placed in his state. “I only learned that children have been placed in Maine after I asked the question. No one from the federal government had informed me or the governor’s office that unaccompanied alien children were coming to Maine,” he said. “The White House officials did not provide any further information, and questions by other governors about how to handle unaccompanied alien children went unanswered.”

Children who are cross the border alone are sheltered in facilities around the country by the Department of Health and Human Services while the government looks for sponsors, usually family, to care for the children while their deportation proceedings play out.

Also Tuesday, six other GOP governors signed a letter to President Barack Obama calling for a plan to deal with the crisis and expressing concerns that nearly half of the children who are placed with families are not appearing for their immigration hearings. “We are concerned that there will be significant numbers who will end up using the public schools, social services and health systems largely funded by the states,” wrote the governors of Alabama, Kansas, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Utah and Wisconsin.

Administration officials participating in the call included Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell and acting budget director Brian Deese.

For more information, go to:  www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com