117 immigrant children placed in Delaware homes
Detainees sleep in a holding cell at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection, processing facility in Brownsville,Texas. Immigration courts backlogged by years of staffing shortages and tougher enforcement face an even more daunting challenge since tens of thousands of Central Americans began arriving on the U.S. border fleeing violence back home. For years, children from Central America traveling alone and immigrants who prove they have a credible fear of returning home have been entitled to a hearing before an immigration judge. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, Pool, File)
Gov. Jack Markell says 117 children who immigrated alone to the United States have been placed with families in Delaware.
Markell told state lawmakers in a letter Thursday that his administration is prepared to work with nonprofits to ensure that the children’s basic needs are met. He says the children may enroll in Delaware schools while awaiting immigration processing.
Markell says providing services will come at a cost for the state, school districts and charities. He says he’s asking federal officials to work with states to cover those costs.
Markell previously said Delaware had no public facilities to accommodate children who migrated alone across the southern U.S. border. In his letter, he says the state is being “called upon to provide for the least of our brothers and sisters.”
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