Tamyra Murray of Michiganders for Immigration Control and Enforcement addresses the Vassar Planning Commission earlier this year. Planning Commission members include, from right, Shirley Seney, Penny Germain and Ian Rudnick. Wolverine Human Services’ plan to house up to 120 Central American immigrants in Vassar is “on hold,” according to an alternative-education principal at the site.
By Tom Gilchrist
Staff Writer
VASSAR — Wolverine Human Services’ plan to house up to 120 Central American immigrant children and teenagers here is “on hold,” according to the principal overseeing the site’s alternative education program.
“Everything on the unaccompanied alien children is just on hold, currently,” Chuck Fabbro, principal of Wolverine’s Alternative Education program, said in a voicemail message to the Advertiser.
“At this time, there’s no need,” Fabbro said. “I think things have calmed down at the border.”
In the summer, Wolverine Human Services proposed housing up to 120 of the immigrants — males ages 12 to 17 — at Vassar, saying it would create about 115 jobs. The announcement drew protests from opponents, though others hailed it as a humanitarian act that also would boost Vassar’s economy.
Tens of thousands of children and teenagers have crossed illegally into Texas this year from Central American countries such as Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. The youths flee through Mexico to the U.S. to join family members here, escape abuse or exploitation by gangs, or seek employment or educational opportunities, according to the federal government.
But the number of Central Americans reaching the U.S. border has decreased significantly recently, according to the U.S. Border Patrol, which states 60 percent fewer unaccompanied minors were apprehended in August than at the peak of the migration crisis in early summer. One factor leading to the decline is a crackdown in Mexico, where the government has been arresting and deporting tens of thousands of Central Americans before they reach the U.S., according to media reports. Mexican authorities also have started barring immigrants from boarding freight trains that travel north to the U.S. border, according to a National Public Radio report.
Wolverine hoped to house immigrants in Vassar by signing a contract with Heartland Alliance of Chicago, which would contract with the federal government. According to Fabbro, Wolverine’s Vassar location was “basically going to be an overflow site for Heartland Alliance and at this time, it’s just not needed.”
In late September, 24 Central American immigrant children arrived at the Wellspring Lutheran Services office in Bay City along M-15, according to Wellspring officials.
The boys and girls, ages 6 to 13, will remain there for 30 to 45 days and will receive language education and other teaching. On Sept. 22, the Bay City Commission approved a resolution symbolically supporting housing the child immigrants from Central America.
Vassar’s City Council hasn’t considered such a resolution.
“Our council never had a resolution up for approval or denial, nor was there a request to put one on the agenda,” Vassar City Manager Brad Barrett said.
Michael Clinesmith, treasurer of Vassar Township which borders the city of Vassar, said he believes public opposition to housing the immigrants — at Vassar City Council and Vassar Public Schools Board of Education meetings, and at protest meetings — has played a part in keeping Wolverine from housing the immigrants.
“I believe it probably did have an impact,” Clinesmith said.
Clinesmith said that by housing Central American immigrant children in the U.S., it breaks up families. Parents in Central American countries are “sending their kids here without their families, putting their own kids at risk crossing through Mexico and these foreign countries,” Clinesmith said.
By accepting such children in Vassar and providing food, shelter and training, it encourages that cycle, Clinesmith said.
Melissa Armstrong of Vassar, a member of the “Vassar Pride” group that supports housing the immigrants in Vassar, said she doesn’t believe protests played any role in keeping Central American children out of Vassar.
“I don’t believe it had any effect on it whatsoever because there was nothing (protesters) could do to stop the children from coming,” Armstrong said. “The government doesn’t care if there’s a protest.”
Armstrong holds out hope that Wolverine still could house Central American immigrants.
“There are still kids out there and now they need to go through the system,” Armstrong said. “They still very well may need Wolverine at some point.”