Migrants, probes, flooding
Southwest Key
Regarding “Houston nuns to 2020 hopefuls: Serve good” (Opinion, Sept. 12): The intense debate regarding immigration policy has led to protests at our shelters, characterizing them as “concentration camps” or “baby cages.” Similar opinions have appeared recently on the Houston Chronicle’s opinion page and are entirely false. We do not incarcerate children. There are no cells, cages or guards in our shelters. Our facilities look and feel like dormitories. We have two to four beds in each room and common areas to eat, play, read or relax. Many pictures on our website at southwestkey.org illustrate this fact.
We provide classroom education, recreation and opportunities for arts and crafts, music, entertainment and field trips. Children have access to pro-bono legal counsel, religious services and therapy. Most of the youth we care for are 13- to 17-year-old boys and girls from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador who’ve come to the U.S. on their own to escape poverty, violence or danger. Most arrive at the border without adequate clothing, food or medical care. We begin to deliver these basic needs the minute they arrive in our care. Our case managers immediately begin the reunification process and connect a majority of these youth with a sponsor within 35 days so they can begin their new lives in the U.S.
I started my career 30 years ago as a youth care worker counseling children and parents in Houston. I’ve stayed at this organization for more than three decades because I’ve seen what love, compassion and encouragement can do for hundreds of thousands of youth. I’m proud of our work and our people because we changed countless lives for the better. Joella Brooks, interim CEO, Southwest Key