Abbott Comes to San Antonio

Demands Federal Government Shut Down Youth Facility at Freeman Coliseum

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.

”The complaints alleged that some children had been sexually assaulted, that the facility was understaffed, that some children were not getting meals throughout the day and that children testing positive for the coronavirus were not separated from the other kids. San Antonio officials who visited the youth last week said they saw no signs of neglect and that they are fed regularly.

Bexar County Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores or a member of her staff has been volunteering nearly every day at the facility, officials said.

“I have spoken directly with many of the wonderful, beautiful young men in this facility,” Clay-Flores said Wednesday, adding that the federal government has contracted with three local catering agencies to feed the youth three meals and two snacks a day. “The kids were very happy, and they’re very grateful,” the commissioner said. She and the governor took a tour of the facility after his news conference.

County Judge Nelson Wolff, who was on the tour last week with Clay-Flores, Mayor Ron Nirenberg, and Congressman Joaquin Castro, echoed those sentiments.

Clay-Flores said children who test positive for coronavirus are immediately separated and sent to a different area. She also said the entire facility is well staffed; it’s designed to hold up to 2,400 people at a time.

As for the child abuse allegations, she said those need to be investigated immediately. Mayor Ron Nirenberg, who also visited the facility last week, agreed. “If these allegations are true, they’re serious and disturbing and they should be thoroughly investigated,” he said. “The welfare of these children is of the utmost importance.

”Abbott said he had directed the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Rangers to investigate the allegations.

At the news conference, Abbott called the problems a “biproduct of President Biden’s open border policies and the lack of planning for the fallout from those disastrous policies. ”It follows a string of recent public remarks from the governor on the border surge, accusing the Biden Administration of creating unsafe and overcrowded conditions for the thousands of children now entering the system.

Last week, he highlighted a handful of anecdotal arrests that state police had made of migrants with existing warrants out for alleged sexual assault. Biden has countered that he inherited an immigration system in disarray, and that border crossings have been rising since before he took office.

Clay-Flores said housing the children at the facility “is not a political issue” although some have tried to make it so.“ Children do not choose what country they are born into or if they are born into the north or the south of the border,” she added. The children in the facility, she said, are “dreaming of a better tomorrow.” “We are here to open our doors,” she said.

The first group of unaccompanied children came in early last week, consisting of nearly 500 boys, aged 13 to 17, from Central America seeking asylum. The Office of Refugee Resettlement has about 200 facilities nationwide and had 14,287 kids in its care, as of Sunday.

The temporary facility at Freeman Coliseum will be open until at least May 30, per an agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The children will stay in the coliseum on cots until they are placed with family members or other sponsors while their applications for asylum are being considered. Some also could be transferred to state-licensed local youth-care facilities.

Staff writers Jeremy Blackman, Joshua Fechter, and Scott Huddleston contributed to this report.
San Antonio Express News
4/7/2021