D.C. officials and immigration advocates on Tuesday criticized plans by the federal government to house unaccompanied migrant children in Washington.
Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said the city has “no intention” of accepting such a facility, echoing opposition from elected officials in Northern Virginia, who are protesting a proposal by the Trump administration to build a permanent shelter there for unaccompanied minors.
Bowser was reacting to an application from Dynamic Service Solutions, a federal contractor, to open a temporary shelter for children in the District. The company has been advertising job listings for educators, caseworkers and medical staff members to work with “unaccompanied alien” children in the nation’s capital.
A woman who answered the phone at the contractor’s office referred questions to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the placement of migrant children. The department did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
The proposed facility would house as many as 242 children, according to a person familiar with the contractor’s application to the city. Some members of the D.C. Council said they were under the impression that the shelter would be located on private property in Takoma, a Northwest D.C. neighborhood near the Maryland border.
