Saint Louis, Mo. — Mayor Francis Slay, flanked by a group of faith organization leaders, announced early Friday that the city would be working to help house up to 60 unaccompanied Central American refugee children currently being detained at the Mexico-U.S. border.
“Let me tell you what I know,” Slay said at a press conference. “St. Louisians are caring and generous. And it’s once again time for us to step up and help these children.”
Slay and the various organizations partnering with the city will be applying for a special federal grant through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement. The International Institute of St. Louis will coordinate efforts to apply for an ORR program which will provide housing, education and healthcare services to the children as they await federal processing to eventually permanently relocate with a family member or qualified sponsor.
Three residential facilities specializing in the care of children have offered to help house the children. Marygrove in North St. Louis County, Great Circle in Webster Groves and St. Vincent Home for Children in Normandy have all agreed to participate in the program.
Slay and leaders of the various organizations reiterated that all the funds to care for the children would come from the federal government and not state and local tax dollars. Slay also said no resources would be diverted from helping local children.
“Right now, thousands of children are in federal custody at the U.S. border and are being housed in what could charitably be described as detention centers,” Slay said. “This is a humanitarian crisis. Many of these children are fleeing abuse, exploitation and persecution.”
Slay said he had no desire to become embroiled in a larger debate about immigration and that the crisis was largely up to the “blame game” in Washington D.C. But if local communities would chip in and offer to help, he said, the crisis could be cooled.
Anna Crosslin of the International Institute said her organization would spearhead the application process because of their experience with federal grant applications in the past. She said the organizations participating, which are largely faith-based, have been providing services to children for years, and that immigrant or refugee children were often apart of that care. She also said the program was well monitored and the funds would only be used for the appropriate care.
“There’s a lot of unfounded and quite frankly false information out there about this crisis,” Crosslin said. “We’re going to work with the community to correct some of that.”
Sister Helen Negri of Marygrove, had a more blunt statement for the press after reading a short prayer which began, “Lord, we ask you to send your blessings on all the children.”
“And by the way, I’m first generation here myself, so there,” Negri said.
Because of the lengthy grant process and the federal government’s own extended timetable, Crosslin said children likely wouldn’t be arriving until the end of September or even later.
Collin Reischman was the Managing Editor for The Missouri Times, and a graduate of Webster University with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.
