Midland Mayor Patrick Payton is encouraging prayers for juveniles at a refugee center near the city established by the federal government and for residents to avoid going to the facility to protest the government’s “overreach.”
Payton, in a recent Facebook Live updating residents about the center that’s housed in a privately owned facility that had served as a “man camp,” said that city and Midland County officials received little warning that the 485 migrant males ages 15 to 17 were coming to Midland County on March 14 to relieve pressure on the border. The migrants are housed at the Cotton Logistics facility southwest of Midland, the Midland Reporter-Telegram reported.
“This intake site, that’s the word being used for it, is the result of the rapid increase in the pace of referrals at the border,” Payton said. “That’s a really nice, political way to say they’re being overrun by illegal immigration.”
The center’s goal is to provide the youth with a “safe and less crowded environment,” where children are processed before being released to a sponsor or “transferred to an office of refugee shelter for long-term care,” Payton said.
“It’s only a facility with beds for 673,” Payton said. “When I asked, ‘If once you get through this group of kids, will you shut the facility down, or will you be replacing one kid for every kid that leaves, this is the answer I got, and this is very typical, ‘There are currently no plans to bring more children to this facility.’”
The establishment of the federal center in Midland County with little warning is “a complete federal overreach,” in which the federal government made a deal with a contractor without consulting with the city or county, Payton said. However, Payton said the kids at the center are “victims” and employees there are just “doing their jobs.”
“We need to be praying for and being ready to help separate from the people who are causing this disaster and this tragedy on the border that’s now come over here and is going to go to Dallas,” Payton said.
Payton asked that people not go to the facility to protest.
“These kids don’t need to see people honking horns, waving flags and protesting. These employees aren’t the people to be protesting to. They can’t change this. They can do nothing about it,” Payton said.
People should instead contact their elected officials along the Rio Grande Valley, in Texas and Washington, D.C., to ask them to do something about the situation and to ensure it never happens again, Payton said.
Of the 485 males ages 15 to 17 at the center as of March 17, 53 tested positive for COVID-19, Payton said on Facebook.
The Red Cross coordinator at the facility has said the facility has no need for donations, Payton said on Facebook.
The migrant children should be taken to Washington, D.C., Sandra Shiplet said on Payton’s Facebook page.
“Thank you Mayor Patrick for explaining all of this mess to us,” Shiplet said.