Hispanic community leaders and a top refugee aid official said they were encouraged after Gov. Nathan Deal met with them Wednesday and softened his tone about the hundreds of unaccompanied Central American children who have been brought to Georgia.
Deal invited them for a meeting at the state Capitol after taking heat for a scathing letter he sent about the children to President Barack Obama last week. The Obama administration has been scrambling to respond to a surge of El Salvadorian, Honduran and Guatemalan children who are fleeing violence in their countries and illegally crossing the southwest border on their own.
In his letter to Obama, Deal said he was shocked to learn the federal government had transferred 1,154 Central American children to the care of adult sponsors in Georgia, a state with 9.9 million residents. He mentioned a “surge” in enrollment of Central American students in Georgia’s public schools, which had 1.7 million students last school year. And he complained the state has received a disproportionate share of refugees, though the Central American children have not been classified as refugees.
“The meeting was respectful and collegial in tone,” Emily Pelton, executive director of Refugee Family Services, said in an email, “and it was encouraging to see agreement on the need for civility and a principled approach to humanitarian needs of children, despite the political differences that are all too often preventing Georgians from being in constructive dialogue about solutions and the well-being of children.”
Jeffrey Tapia, executive director of the Latin American Association, said Deal agrees the situation is “a humanitarian crisis” and “that we need to respond with compassion and that we have laws that dictate how these cases must be handled.”
“I’m pleased with his agreement on those three main issues,” she said.
Deal issued a statement after his meeting late Wednesday afternoon, saying: “We will show compassion, follow rule of law.”
“I’m concerned about additional burdens being placed on local taxpayers in Georgia,” he said. “But I made this pledge to the group: As a state we will let the federal process work. And during the time it takes to accomplish that, I’m sure Georgians will show their compassion toward these children who have undergone harrowing circumstances.”
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