Over two dozen protesters demonstrated outside the San Bernardino Board of Supervisors meeting today to protest the proposed federal facility for unaccompanied minors who cross the U.S.-Mexico border.
Protesters demonstrated outside the San Bernardino County building on Tuesday, August 20 while the Board of Supervisors meeting went on inside.
They were protesting a recent proposal by the General Services Administration, which oversees the leasing and construction of federal buildings, for an immigrant detention center in the Inland Empire.
The proposed facility would be 74,000 to 91,000 square feet and hold up to 430 immigrant children, and could open by December 2020 if approved.
On Monday, four Democratic representatives from the Inland Empire – Pete Aguilar, Mark Takano, Norma Torres, and Raul Ruiz - wrote a letter to the Office of Refugee Resettlement expressing “serious concerns” with the proposal.
The representatives argued that “transitional foster care is better suited to provide individualized attention to children than a large-scale shelter.”
At least seven children are known to have died in immigration custody since last year in facilities across the country.
