Central Coast community members took to social media to express their sentiments on the prospect of the Camp Roberts Army National Guard base becoming the eighth site to house unaccompanied migrant children in California.
In an April 1 briefing, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby confirmed that the Department of Health and Human Services sent requests to the Department of Defense to use Camp Roberts and the Long Beach Convention Center in Southern California.
During the briefing, Kirby declined to confirm how many children could be housed at the Camp Roberts site.
On social media, Central Coast residents were evenly split in their comments on the potential use of Camp Roberts.
Facebook user and SLO County resident Lisa Lo Vece Borges said, “Meanwhile all the homeless are living in the surrounding riverbeds! As an Independent, I am so disgusted with the Democrats in office and how they are destroying the state and country!!!”
Paso Robles resident Lupe Ramos posted his supportive email to Paso Robles Mayor Steve Martin on Facebook and encouraged others to email their mayor letters of support.
“These children are in an extremely vulnerable position. It feels that this is the right thing to do regardless of the controversy this may raise,” the letter stated.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s most recent statistics, authorities encountered more than 29,010 unaccompanied minors from October 2020 to February 2021.
There are currently more than 5,000 unaccompanied minors in U.S. Customs and Border Patrol custody. The highest number of reported encounters with unaccompanied minors is 80,634, which occurred in the 2018-19 fiscal year.
In March, U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) visited Texas’ Carrizo Springs Influx Care Facility that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is authorized to use as a holding facility for unaccompanied migrant children.
Carbajal told New Times that unaccompanied minors who seek refuge in the United States should, at the very least, be treated humanely while they’re being processed.
At his recent visit to the Carrizo Springs facility, he said he saw a safe and orderly facility where children were afforded medical care, given educational and legal services, and were extended basic human rights.
“Treating children humanely should not be a partisan issue. I commend the Biden administration for working quickly to evaluate sites across the country that are suitable for children, including Camp Roberts, to alleviate overcrowding and ensure children receive adequate care while in U.S. custody. If Camp Roberts is selected, I’ll be monitoring conditions at the facility closely and will work with the administration to ensure proper resources are provided,” Carbajal said. Δ
This article appears in Apr 8-18, 2021.
The arrival of waves of illegals shouldn’t be a surprise. The Democrats ran on a platform of sanctuary cities, abolishing ICE, and opening the border, and people in other countries follow our media. After all of the outrage over “kids in cages” during Trump’s term, why is it suddenly OK with liberals?
Social media has shown shocking pictures of overcrowding, this is a crisis with Biden in office for many years yet to go…. doesn’t the State of California owe shelter,schools and healthy food to California children first? with so many Californian homeless children living a vulnerable hand to mouth daily existence my heart breaks for California’s youngest citizens … families dependent on morning and lunch nutrition programs must be suffering…
Considering the torture, wholesale slaughter, and the installation and support of numerous brutal right wing regimes which the US has facilitated in Latin America and elsewhere, providing decent housing for refugees, immigrants, undocumented workers and their children is the least they should do. Apparently, being the most violent and terrorist nation in the world, as the US certainly is, has consequences. And this need not be mutually exclusive. The same housing, food and support should be provided to the homeless, the poor, the hungry and other disenfranchised people as well. Those in other nations are not worth less, and those in the US are not worth more. Seeing how the US is the richest and most “exceptional “ nation in the world, there is more than enough money and resources to provide this.
And while Trump and the GOP may be the more obviously obscene, vile, cruel and repugnant faces of US empire , both right wing parties play roles in contributing to the horrors which the US visits upon the rest of the world and creating the brutal conditions which force people to flee their countries… It’s the system…
Joe Biden for Prison, 2024.
It is unconscionable what Biden and the whacky liberals are doing on our southern border, and these hypocrites don’t even have enough sense to keep successful policies intact, their overly-partisan ideology means we are now being overrun with illegal immigrants, terrorists and drug cartels. Shame on Democrats, including Heidi Harmon, Miriam Shah, Aaron Gomez, Caren Ray Rossum and the rest of the whacky libs in SLO County.
Coming in with a tough situation at hand, President Biden is doing a good job. He deserves widespread support as he leads the people of the United States to to build back a better nation after four years of unnecessary division, distraction, destruction and death.
The biggest threat to our nation comes from within, with anti-democracy and racist instigators purposely trying to divide our country and denigrate those who wish to bring unity and well-being to our communities. Joe Biden is a man who cares about others and selflessly strives for the very best for the United States. More power to Joe Biden! Long live Joe Biden!
Donald Trump had four years to prove himself and our nation ended up in a violent, sickened, divided mess. Now it’s time to let Joe Biden have his chance to prove himself with a fresh, compassionate and competent, professional approach to leadership that values unity over division, love over hate, Democracy above authoritarianism.