[Excerpts]

Some of the dozen people familiar with the conditions who spoke to The Dallas Morning News about the center say the management of the boys’ asylum cases seems chaotic, with boys unclear about processes such as their pending family reunions, deportation cases, or why they are being held.

“This is a humanitarian crisis in the convention center,”

said Josephine Lopez-Paul, Dallas Area Interfaith’s lead organizer, who did volunteer work at the convention center. Like others interviewed, Lopez-Paul was taken aback by the number of children, mostly from Guatemala and Honduras, kept in one massive gray hall of the convention center, their metal cots in neat rows.

The Dallas center was initially billed as a “decompression center” for children, and after it opened on March 17, it quickly filled to capacity, about 2,300 boys ages 13 to 17.

But many who have worked or volunteered there have described the pop-up detention center as inadequate and depressing for the children, though they acknowledge it’s better than conditions at the Border Patrol sites where they are initially processed after crossing the border seeking asylum in the U.S.

[Photo Credit: Dallas Visitor's Bureau]

Worries Rise About the Welfare of Migrant Teens in Dallas Emergency Shelter, Dallas Morning News [pdf]

Migrant Teens Held in Dallas Convention Center Feel Imprisoned, Dallas Observer [pdf]

Advocates Worried for Migrant Teens at Improvised Shelter, Arkansas Democrat Gazette [pdf]

[Excerpt]

U.S. to House Up to 3,000 Immigrant Teens at Dallas Convention Center, Dallas Morning News [pdf]

Gov. Greg Abbott Says There is a "Humanitarian Crisis" at Texas-Mexico Border, Texas Tribune [pdf]

Immigrant Teens Arrive At Temporary Shelter In Dallas, KERA News [pdf]

Dallas Catholics Pitch in to Help Migrant Teens, Catholic Philly [pdf]

In the hubbub surrounding a meeting with US Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, Valley Interfaith leaders spoke up forcefully to press the issue of the reunification of children with their parents.

[Excerpt from Rio Grande Guardian report below]

"Valley Interfaith urged Congress, to reunite the 2,300-plus children who are currently in custody with their parents and electronically monitor, rather than detain theses families.

Also, it urged that pediatricians, psychologists, psychiatrists, and pediatric nurses be sent to the centers, especially those centers specializing in infants and to take swift action because under the so-called Flores Settlement, the detention of minors with or without the parents can only last up to 20 days.

“The president was the one who created this problem, through the so-called ‘zero tolerance’ policy. If you cross illegally, they will arrest you for a crime and by law they will separate you from the children, that is the problem,” Anaya said.

“We are telling them (Texas’ two senators), now we need them to pass legislation to resolve the problem, because we believe this problem will be resolved by legislation, not by executive orders; not by the president, but by their leadership.”"

[Photo Credit: Smiley N. Pool, Dallas Morning News]

Senators: We Don't Know When Immigrant Families Will Be Reunited, Rio Grande Guardian

Pause At the Border? Friday Marks First Day in a Month That No Parents, Children Separated in McAllen, Dallas Morning News

Trump Caves, Plenty of Reaction, Rio Grande Guardian

Cruz, Cornyn Joining Another Wave of Congressional Visits Amid Family Separations Outrage, The Monitor

Sister Norma, the Border's Fiercest Fighter, is 'Astute as a Serpent, and Gentle as a Dove', Dallas Morning News

Reaction to President Trump’s executive order on the separation of immigrant families has been swift, with most community groups and elected officials opposing the “zero tolerance” policy.

Trump made the announcement that he was changing policy on Wednesday, June 20, which was designated World Refugee Day by the United Nations. He directed the Department of Homeland Security not to separate families as they await immigration proceedings.

The Industrial Areas Foundation, the nation’s oldest network of Broad Based Community Organizations, with over 75 organizations throughout the United States representing hundreds of thousands of families, issued this statement:

“The Trump Administration needs to immediately stop and desist from further separation of immigrant children and their parents, quickly reunite those 2,000 family members, and begin a humane approach to border security and immigration reform. While the president may soon reverse part of this policy, it is important that the victimized children be cared for respectfully and appropriately, including inspection of the detention facilities by local clergy and health providers.”

Fr. Kevin Collins, OMI, of Valley Interfaith-IAF, and pastor of St. Eugene de Mazenod Church in Brownsville, Texas, said: “The ‘zero tolerance’ immigration policy promulgated by the Attorney General and the Trump Administration is nothing short of cruel. It is un-American to separate children from their parents.” Collins is pictured [right].

Rabbi John Linder, of Valley Interfaith Project-IAF and Senior Rabbi of Temple Solel of Paradise Valley, Arizona, said:

“Forcibly taking children from their mothers and fathers, is nothing short of government-sanctioned child abuse. Where will this stop? Children in cages, tent cities. What’s next? Every elected official at the local, state, and national level must tell the administration that this brutality cannot be tolerated. The lack of political will on all sides for balanced, comprehensive immigration reform is responsible for this mess. Children are never to be used as political pawns. The Trump Administration has crossed a moral line.”

Fr. Mike Walsh of Holy Trinity Parish in Dallas, TX, with Dallas Area Interfaith-IAF, said:

“It’s stunning that we are perpetrating something so horrible for families. This is the 21st century, and our government is placing children in penned cages. We’re a better country than this.”

Maria Elena Manzo, leader with Communities Organized for Relational Power in Action (COPA), in Salinas, California, said:

“Virtually every moral voice and authority is denouncing these administrative actions. This is horrifying. What can be more sacred than the family? It is torture to take children away from their parents.”

Full Statement Here

Trump Caves, Plenty of Reaction, Rio Grande Guardian [pdf]

*** *** *** *** ***

At a COPS/Metro Alliance assembly on June 18, San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller called the separation of immigrant families at the border "immoral", "evil" and "sinful."

[Top Image Credit: NOWCastSA footage]

How Catholics are Helping Immigrant Children Separated from their Parents, America [pdf]

Catholic Bishops Across US Condemn Separation of Migrant Children, America [pdf]

San Antonio Archbishop Calls Separation of Families Immoral, Evil and Sinful, NOWCastSA [pdf]

More than 50 COPS / Metro Alliance leaders and allies assembled outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office in San Antonio A protest the continued detention of thousands of immigrant women and children in Texas. About 2,200 detainees, mostly women and children, are detained in two facilities in Texas -- Dilly and Karnes, some for as long as one year. Protesters brought baby shower balloons, socks and diapers to the ICE office to represent the children held in detention. Leaders from Texas UU Justice Ministry, Interfaith Welcome Coalition, RAICES and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network called on ICE to transfer detainees to family members in the US who can pay for their housing, food and assistance.

Read more

About 100 gathered for a civic academy organized by Austin Interfaith leaders from the Equal Justice Center and Congregational Church of Austin; guests from San Antonio RAICES and the UT Austin Longhorn Institute for Latin American Studies explained the dangers children are fleeing and the legal and political challenges they face today. Two Central American youth who had recently arrived shared powerful testimonies about what they fled.

Two months prior, Austin Interfaith issued a call to action after a public presentation at the Travis County Commissioners Court. Since then, the City of Austin unanimously passed a resolution "welcoming" the children to Austin and ordering City staff to identify unused resources for them.

Read more

At a town hall meeting held in Ames, Iowa, Congressman Steve King was confronted by AMOS leaders unhappy with his recent votes on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and treatment of unaccompanied minors from Central America.

Shari Reilly appealed to the Catholic faith shared with King when she asked him to take a more "humanitarian approach" to the unaccompanied children arriving from Mexico and Central America. On behalf of AMOS she invited the Congressman to a public assembly to be held in September at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church.

Read more

Less than a week after Omaha Together One Community (OTOC) leaders began circulating a statement in support of unaccompanied children at the border, 140 leaders signed on -- including Nebraska Episcopal Bishop Scott Barker and NE Lutheran Bishop Brian Maas.

The campaign was precipitated by OTOC immigration action leader Sr. Kathleen Erickson, who had spent 5 weeks on a mission trip to San Pedro Sula in Honduras (the murder capital of the world). With legal experts and other Sisters of Mercy, the immigration action team educated OTOC leadership about the dangers children face in Central America.

Read more

Asserting that anyone under 18 years must have an attorney and should never be subjected to expedited processing, hundreds of bishops and clergy from every major religious denomination in Texas denounced proposed changes to the Trafficking Victims Act of 2008 and called on the White House for a better approach to the humanitarian crisis at the border.

In El Paso, San Antonio, Houston, Austin, Fort Worth and Dallas, religious leaders preached about the crisis at the border, organized relief efforts and held press conferences reminding the White House and Congress of the Judeo-Christian admonishment for nations to "show kindness and mercy to one another, not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner or the poor (Zechariah 7:9-10)."

Read more

Bishops, and clergy from congregational members of Border Interfaith and El Paso Interreligious Sponsoring Organization (EPISO), are calling for additional protection of the tens of thousands unaccompanied Central American children that are at the Texas border.

In a press conference in El Paso, Bishop Mark Seitz walked through a letter signed by hundreds of clergy and addressed to the President and to Congress, that details specific recommendations. Clergy leaders want the White House to preserve the protections established in the Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Act of 2008 for those that arrive on our border seeking refuge, provision of legal assistance to any minor under 18 years of age, and attention to the religious needs of the children and family by granting clergy access to US Border Patrol detention facilities and the US Office of Refugee Resettlement.

Read more