Posted on 07/30/2014 2:35:20 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Emotions remain high over Gov. Deval Patrick’s offer to temporarily house unaccompanied immigrant children in Massachusetts. No final decision has been made about where the children would stay, if federal authorities accept the offer.
Gov. Patrick said comments to his office are running as high as three-to-one in favor of his offer to shelter some of the tens of thousands of unaccompanied children who have streamed across the country’s southern border this year. Patrick said he had received no new information from the federal government since he made the offer on July 18th.
Patrick proposed Westover Air Force Reserve Base in Chicopee and the Camp Edwards military base on Cape Cod as possible locations. Local officials have sounded alarm bells.
Patrick, last Friday, turned down an invitation from elected officials in Chicopee to come there to talk with them about the proposal.
"When and if the federal government decides they want to use Westover there will be plenty of time to engage."
The governor said local officials have nothing to be concerned about because the children will be kept in a secure facility run and paid for by the federal government.
About 1,000 people gathered in front of the State House over the weekend to protest Patrick’s offer to shelter the immigrant children. About 100 people rallied against the proposal at a highway rotary in Chicopee near the main entrance to Westover.
" I think the people standing up to the government right now is going to make a big change in this issue," said protestor Wendy Olbrich.
Patrick said much of the opposition to his offer appears to stem from the highly emotional national debate over immigration policy. Patrick, who is not running for a third term, insists politics did not factor into his decision.
Money is also an issue. Jerry Ellis, selectmen in Bourne on Cape Cod, claims the town is still owed $1 million by the federal government for expenses the town incurred while evacuees from Hurricane Katrina were sheltered at Camp Edwards nearly a decade ago.
Chicopee Mayor Richard Kos said it “makes no sense” to use an active air base to house children.
" I am basing that on talks with Westover personnel. There is a lack of available housing and security concerns for what is the largest Air Force Reserve base in the country and maintaining its operations and its mission," said Kos.
Several religious leaders, including Cardinal Sean O’Malley of the Archdiocese of Boston, have praised Patrick for his willingness to address what they see as a humanitarian emergency.
"I ask my faith community and the wider public to understand compassionately the extreme circumstances this children are facing. As a country, and as a church, we are capable of providing crucial assistnence."
Leaders of Boston’s minority communities held a news conference Monday to support Patrick’s plan. They spoke in front of a memorial to the 19th century immigrants who came to Boston to escape starvation in Ireland.
Support from Niguaragua, Guatamala, Mexico, Middle East countries, etc.
“Leaders of Boston’s minority communities held a news conference Monday to support Patrick’s plan. They spoke in front of a memorial to the 19th century immigrants who came to Boston to escape starvation in Ireland.”
Good example, let’s return to those trilling days of yesteryear: No welfare, no subsidies, no schooling, no nothing plus you must have a sponsor to take care of you and pass a medical evaluation.
“About 1,000 people gathered in front of the State House over the weekend”
There still pushing the lie. It was more like over 10,000.
If he is hearing that, he needs more medication.
Is Obama imperiling reliably democratic districts in Nov?
“paid for by the federal government.”
Don’t worry. Federal dollars are paying the 7K per illegal per month bill.
Not our tax dollars.
Really?
Well your polling is 180 degrees opposite of national polling.
What is special about your little haven?
Uhmmmmm....nuttin
Yeah I support you sheltering immigrant children...
overnight..
but deport the illegal aliens and send them back home...
they can shelter in place back there...
well that’s just peachy keen. Should he let the UN know that the 690,000 refugees from Somalia, Afganistan, Syria, Iraq, Ethiopia, Asia, South Sudan, Europe, et al, can go ahead and get on the plane to Mass, too? no? /s
Aren’t we doing enough already?:
Refugee resettlement: In 2012, only 0.8% of the world’s refugees were resettled. The 89,007 refugees resettled included 71,410 through UNHCR processes with the remainder being resettled through non-UNHCR programs such as Australia’s Special Humanitarian Program or the private
sponsorship arrangements in Canada and the United States.
92.0% of the resettled refugees went to just three nations – United States (74.5%), Canada (10.8%) and Australia (6.7%).8
Global resettlement needs: In its planning for 2014, UNHCR identified 690,915 refugees in need of resettlement. These refugees are divided (by region of asylum) between Africa(340,267 people,49.2%), Asia (265,447 people, 38.4%), the Middle East and North Africa (33,838 people, 4.9%),
the Americas (30,288, 4.4%) and Europe (21,075, 3.1%).9
http://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/n/mr/1402_RefugeeSnapshot.pdf
I’m in favor of resettling in the Obama mini me’s 77 acre, 7500 sq ft estate in the Berkshires in western MA.
“I’m in favor of resettling in the Obama mini me’s 77 acre, 7500 sq ft estate in the Berkshires in western MA.”
Ditto !
The hypocrisy never ceases to amaze me.
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