Ricketts, Reynolds Reject Federal Request to House Migrant Children
Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts said Tuesday that he has rejected a federal request to help house unaccompanied migrant children because “we are reserving our resources for serving our kids” within the state.
The Republican governor said he disagrees with the policy of President Joe Biden allowing children to go to “sponsors” in the United States, usually parents or close relatives, while they pursue asylum cases in heavily backlogged immigration courts.
“Nebraska is declining their request because we are reserving our resources for serving our kids,” Ricketts said in a news release. “I do not want our kids harmed as the result of President Biden’s bad policies.”
Ricketts said federal officials should instead work with Central American governments to reunite the children with their families in their home countries. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said last Thursday said she also rejected a federal request to accept migrant children into the state, saying the need to find homes for them “is the president’s problem.”
Reynolds told WHO radio that her priority is the health and safety of Iowans and that the state doesn’t have facilities to house migrant children for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“This is not our problem,” Reynolds said on the “Need to Know with Jeff Angelo” program. “This is the president’s problem. He’s the one that has opened the border and he needs to be responsible for this and he needs to stop it.”
Iowa Department of Human Services Director Kelly Garcia notified the Biden administration on March 31 that the state would not take unaccompanied minors.
Last month, the U.S. government picked up nearly 19,000 children traveling alone across the Mexican border. That represents the largest monthly number ever recorded.
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