Images of migrant children kept in detention centers near the border have stirred strong feelings around the country. But the Portland-area shelter where federal officials send immigrant children is very different.
There’s not an inch of chain-link fencing in a spacious facility run by Morrison Child and Family Centers. The building can house 70 immigrant teens at a time. It’s more dorm than detention facility, with tidy classrooms, recreations areas with couches and TVs—even a weight room.
Morrison has had a federal contract to help place unaccompanied immigrant children with local families for years. But CEO Drew Henrie-McWIlliams said people began protesting outside recently, when news broke that four kids who’d been split from their parents wound up in Portland. ??
“People just made assumptions that this wasn’t a good place for kids. We’re keeping kids from their families, when that was the opposite,” he said. “So that was hard.”
Morrison issued a statement this week saying it was “shocked, horrified, and heartbroken” by recent federal immigration policies.