Democratic Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley says there are no plans by the federal government to send any of the Central American children flooding across the U.S. boarder to her city for shelter. Whaley had earlier identified two potential shelters. Lewis Wallace of member station WYSO in Yellow Springs reports.
Whaley had gone head-to-head with Republican Congressman Mike Turner and a group of local Republicans.
They opposed the mayors offer to provide housing for the thousands of unaccompanied kids showing up at the U.S.-Mexico border...many of them are running from violence in their home countries.
But now the department of Health and Human Services says the numbers of kids crossing the border have gone way down.
Mayor Whaley says Dayton should still step in if needed.
NW: The federal government called and asked us to be helpful. If they need our help, we have our duty as Americans to be as helpful as we can be.
The federal government is responsible for finding temporary shelter for the children until they can go in front a judge who decides whether theyll stay, or be deported.
HHS says it has successfully released tens of thousands of the kids to sponsors inside the U.S. this year, including 360 in Ohio. Meanwhile, Congress has been gridlocked on legislation to address the problem.