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Abbott comes to San Antonio to demand U.S. government shut down youth facility at Freeman Coliseum
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Jessica Phelps /San Antonio Express-News
Gov. Greg Abbott called on the federal government to shut down the temporary facility housing migrant children at the Freeman Coliseum on Wednesday, saying two state agencies have received several complaints alleging child abuse and neglect.
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services each received separate tips Wednesday morning, Abbott said at a quickly called news conference in front of the coliseum.
Abbott said the complaints came from “more than one person who’s been in this facility.”
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Source: YouTube/Screenshot
Last week a disturbing Customs and Border Protection video made the rounds that showed two toddlers being dropped from a 14-foot border wall, left alone in the desert at night by smugglers. This week, we have another heartbreaking video of a young boy abandoned in the Texas desert who thankfully came across an off-duty Border Patrol agent on his way home.
The 10-year-old Nicaraguan child is shown crying, begging for help.
“What happened?” the agent asks in Spanish. It s that I was walking with a group, and they left me behind, and I don t know where they re at, the boy says crying, according to CNN.
Editorial: Community does right by immigrants
Express-News Editorial Board
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San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg, County Judge Nelson Wolff, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro and County Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores are among the local officials helping at a critical time.William Luther /Staff photogapher
In welcoming some 1,500 unaccompanied migrant children, San Antonio and Bexar County affirmed our country’s asylum laws and demonstrated the highest value of embracing immigrants and refugees.
Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff acknowledged the Freeman Coliseum Exposition Hall isn’t the Marriott, yet the county prioritized dignity and compassion.
“I thought we should help,” Wolff said. “We need to remember that we are all immigrants we came from somewhere else. Some people forget that.”
Catholic agencies step in to help minors at US-Mexico border
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of San Antonio set up over 2,000 cots to care for unaccompanied migrant children
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A young migrant waits for his turn to take a shower at the Donna Department of Homeland Security holding facility, the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley in Donna, Texas, on March 30. (Photo: AFP)
As the United States took in almost 19,000 migrant children, labeled unaccompanied minors, in March, faith-based organizations such as Catholic Charities throughout the country have been doing their part to help.
In Texas, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of San Antonio set up over 2,000 cots for their guests at the Freeman Coliseum to welcome and care for unaccompanied migrant children, the organization said March 30 on its website.