{"id":594307,"date":"2018-06-21T15:23:12","date_gmt":"2018-06-21T21:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=594307"},"modified":"2018-06-22T08:04:50","modified_gmt":"2018-06-22T14:04:50","slug":"mayors-from-across-the-country-visit-tent-city-in-tornillo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/06\/mayors-from-across-the-country-visit-tent-city-in-tornillo\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayors from across the country visit &#8216;tent city&#8217; in Tornillo"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_594311\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-594311\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Keller-Tim-771x564.jpg\" alt=\"Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller and his wife Elizabeth (Liz) Kistin Keller\" width=\"771\" height=\"564\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Keller-Tim-771x564.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Keller-Tim-336x246.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Keller-Tim-768x562.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Keller-Tim-1170x856.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Keller-Tim.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Courtesy Mayor Tim Keller&#039;s office<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller and his wife Elizabeth (Liz) Kistin Keller, shown here, and Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber, not pictured, joined other mayors in Tornillo, Texas on Thursday.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>TORNILLO, Texas \u2014 Even as the Trump administration\u2019s immigration policies are shifting daily, one thing has remained the same in this small desert town: Officials remain in the dark about what\u2019s going on in the tent city constructed last week at this port of entry.<\/p>\n<p>A trip by a group of mayors\u00a0to the port of entry Thursday,\u00a0spearheaded by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, yielded no new information about what, if anything, will change inside the detention center for immigrant children after President Donald Trump signed an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2018\/06\/20\/trump-order-immigrant-families-together-separated\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">executive order to end family separations<\/a> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article originally appeared in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2018\/06\/21\/immigrant-children-tent-city-texas-mayors-austin-el-paso\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Texas Tribune<\/a>,\u00a0a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans and engages with them about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve heard nothing about that, I\u2019ve heard nothing personally about it,\u201d said El Paso Mayor Dee Margo. \u201cI am hoping that given the order [Wednesday], they\u2019ll start ending this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The facility was built last week, just 24 hours after the federal government confirmed its location. It\u2019s reported that more than 250 undocumented immigrant minors are currently housed there. The facility has the capability to expand its capacity to up to 4,000.<\/p>\n<p>When the shelter opened U.S. Rep. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/directory\/will-hurd\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Will Hurd<\/a>, R-Helotes, said he was told that only teenage boys were at the facility &#8212; and that they were children who had entered the country by themselves, and were not separated from their families under the Trump administration&#8217;s\u00a0\u201czero tolerance\u201d policy.<\/p>\n<p>But last Sunday, U.S. Rep. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/directory\/beto-orourke\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Beto O&#8217;Rourke<\/a>, D-El Paso, said the facility held both unaccompanied and separated children and said some of the children might have been reclassified after they were processed. A Thursday news release from O&#8217;Rourke&#8217;s campaign said he was scheduled to return to Tornillo on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>Margo said he\u2019s had no information about who\u2019s inside.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know where those children came from. I don\u2019t know where their parents are. We don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on,\u201d said El Paso Dee Margo.<\/p>\n<p>The office of state Rep. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/directory\/cesar-blanco\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">C\u00e9sar Blanco<\/a>, D-El Paso, said\u00a0it was told Wednesday just after the event in Tornillo that the children were all classified as \u201cunaccompanied minors.\u201d His office added that the state\u2019s Health and Human Services Commission has asked the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, which oversees the care for the unaccompanied minors, to determine if the facility needs a license to operate as a child-care facility. That information is also unknown.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Watch Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller&#8217;s speech in Tornillo, Texas:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6tS0lxa-fdk\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>Video courtesy of Keller&#8217;s office<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Watch Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber&#8217;s speech:<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Great courage here at the U.S.\/Mexico border as <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MayorWebber?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@MayorWebber<\/a> of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/SantaFe?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#SantaFe<\/a> shares strongest words yet here at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/MayorsStand4All?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#MayorsStand4All<\/a>, against the cruel policies of family separation by <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@realDonaldTrump<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/KeepFamiliesTogether?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#KeepFamiliesTogether<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9E1Vzfgst8\">pic.twitter.com\/9E1Vzfgst8<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Rev. Dr. Jayme Mathias (@RevDrJayme) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RevDrJayme\/status\/1009827094505906176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 21, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>U.S. Conference of Mayors President Steve Benjamin, the mayor of Columbia, South Carolina,\u00a0said the group was denied access to the facility and was instead told to submit a formal request that would take weeks to process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have been told that if we want to access, we have to submit [a request] and hopefully we\u2019ll get approval in a couple of weeks \u2014 the same response members of Congress and several others apparently have received,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we will continue to push for access because that is the piece of the puzzle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Austin Mayor Steve Adler added: \u201cThat\u2019s hard for us [to understand] because we don\u2019t see a collection of elected mayors from across the country as posing any kind of security or administrative risk.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>After a news conference Wednesday, some of the mayors and other local officials, including Blanco and Austin City Council member Greg Casar, sought an interview with a port supervisor. But they were told that there wasn\u2019t an official available to even answer questions, and a Department of Homeland Security agent closed the gate to the entrance.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Trump&#8217;s Wednesday executive\u00a0order\u00a0ending family separations\u00a0was \u201cthe right thing to do\u201d but said it didn\u2019t answer any questions about what happens next.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2018\/06\/20\/separated-families-immigration-trump-guarantee-reunification\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">still unclear<\/a> how \u2013 or even if \u2014 already separated families will be reunited.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have over 2,000 children still far away from their parents and hundreds of them streaming into our cities, over 100 in our city,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t know any information about them. We have to find out from activists instead of from the government.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is a core of the problem, we do not know how the administration plans to reunify these thousands of children,\u201d Benjamin added. \u201cI can only imagine what these parents are going through and what these children are going through. We need clarity from the administration.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Disclosure: Dee Margo and former Texas Tribune board chairman Steve Adler have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune&#8217;s journalism. Find a complete list of them\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/support-us\/corporate-sponsors\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/em><script async src=\"https:\/\/cdn.texastribune.org\/pixel\/dot.min.29c708b3d0da5d17a725.js\" integrity=\"sha384-8Xwf\/TlQnmHiajg1t3dn8w4qlF1rmV33o5NAQVXYu0T2q3rHV5579zrSmRjh+XnM\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\" data-tt-canonical=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2018\/06\/21\/immigrant-children-tent-city-texas-mayors-austin-el-paso\/\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>They included Albuquerque&#8217;s Tim Keller and Santa Fe&#8217;s Alan Webber. Watch the New Mexico mayors&#8217; speeches by clicking on the article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":594311,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[3666,140,234,1189],"class_list":["post-594307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-alan-webber","tag-border-and-immigration","tag-children","tag-tim-keller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}