Gov. Terry McAuliffe said the border crisis is a federal problem, not Virginiaâs, and that undocumented children are only being housed at one location in the stateâeven though news outlets have confirmed more.
During a Wednesday radio interview on WTOP, a caller asked the Democratic governor how he is going to handle the border crisis now that it has reached Virginia in terms of jobs and schools. McAuliffe pinned the blame on Congressâ failure to pass immigration reform and said there was ânothing we can do at the state level.
âNow, we donât have an issue in Virginiaâwe only have really one facility, that is the federal government contracting with a private contractor, Joe Gibbs,â McAuliffe said, referring to the former Washington Redskins coach’s nonprofit Youth For Tomorrow in Prince William County. âThat is not the state. That is the federal government contracting with a private entity, which theyâre entitled to do.â
More than one facility in Virginia is housing unaccompanied minors in Virginia, however.
The Northern Virginia Juvenile Detention Center in Alexandria has housed 310 minors since 2007, according to Krystal Kimrey, the centerâs executive director. Since April, 51 undocumented children have arrivedâ19 in April, 11 in May, 12 in June, and nine in July, according to Kimrey.
âWe house up to 20 [Unaccompanied Alien Children] youth at one time,â Kimrey wrote in an email.
The Roanoke Times reported earlier this month that more than half of the children living at the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Detention Centerâabout 24âare undocumented. The federal government has held a federal contract for the past five years to house unaccompanied minors there.
The federal government has been tight-lipped on requests as to where else theyâre placing these children.
âWe do not identify regular/permanent Unaccompanied Alien Children program shelters for the safety and security of minors and staff at the facilities,â Kenneth Wolfe, deputy director of public affairs for the Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families.
HHS’ office of Refugee Resettlement placed 2,234 unaccompanied minors with sponsors typically relativesâin Virginia from Jan. 1 to July 7.
That only represents children who have actually been placed in homes, not children who are still being held in detention centers and other facilities.
