Madison, Milwaukee May House Detained Immigrant Children

The Office of Refugee Resettlement and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have begun discussions with officials in both Madison and Milwaukee about housing some of the thousands of immigrant children from Central America now stranded on the southern border.

Three vacant school buildings in Milwaukee could become a temporary home for as many as 300 children. Federal officials have also asked Madison Mayor Paul Soglin to look for buildings to house the children if federal funds become available.

Father David Bergner of Milwaukee Catholic Charities said Milwaukee was chosen because it’s close to Chicago, where immigration judges can review the children’s requests for asylum and decide whether or not to deport them. Bergner said many attorneys have already volunteered to represent the children in deportation hearings.

“Hopefully Wisconsin can have a role in assisting these kids, and maybe some of them will become asylees and become part of our community,” said Bergner.

Bergner said it only took him a day to get commitments from two religious communities and a parish to agree to lease their buildings to house the children.

In Madison, Mayor Soglin said he’s working with a committee of Latino community leaders to find a building that meets the children’s needs.

“The criteria for the federal government is to be a community of at least 200,000 and to have local airport,” said Soglin, adding that Madison was cooperating with federal requests because “it’s the right thing to do.

Whether either city will house the children depends on the outcome of a partisan debate in Washington over approving the funding to pay for retrofitting the buildings.

A bill introduced last week would allow border agents to deport the children as soon as they cross the border without holding asylum hearings.