Keith Elison to bring border jumpers to MN for free stuff
Texas Governor puts National Guard on the border...Kieth Ellison wants you to raise, feed and educate the poor of Central America.
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The simmering national fight over whether to aid thousands of unaccompanied Central American children who came to the United States illegally is intensifying as more of the children are finding their way to Minnesota.
Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., is leading a push to welcome the children to the state, which could bring in waves of more children and thrust Minnesota to the forefront of this larger and complex national issue.
“We have capacity to help here and we should,” Ellison said Monday at a community meeting at the CLUES center on E. Lake Street in Minneapolis.
But immigration advocates and nonprofit groups that often serve traditional refugees are concerned that Minnesota might not be able to handle a deluge of children needing expensive care and facing complex legal cases.
Alicia Bauers, a case manager for children’s mental health services at Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, said their group often cannot provide basic services for immigrants in the state.
“I’ve had a waitlist for my caseload for two years,” she said. “We want to provide services … but they can’t even get to see me.”
DFL Gov. Mark Dayton is expecting a letter from Ellison and others asking him for state resources, such as shelter, for the children.
“I don’t know what it entails,” Dayton said Monday. “This thing is unfolding rapidly, and the federal response is still being determined. I would have to know where it’d fit in, what it would cost and where we would have sites potentially available.”
Dayton finds himself at the center of an issue many other state leaders are grappling with. Last week, Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts vowed to help temporarily house the migrant children.
The issue has even taken on broader political overtones in the upcoming election, where one of Dayton’s challengers is demanding that the state not lend any assistance.
GOP gubernatorial candidate Scott Honour last week urged Dayton to “let the president know that Minnesota is not the place to send these kids.”
“Before President Obama looks to our state to solve his man-made crisis, it’s time for Governor Dayton to join other Midwestern governors and let the president know it’s time for him to lead.”
