Olympia Fields officials were just as surprised as their residents were when they found out the federal government had plans to house immigrant minors in their community.
The Illinois Review reports:
The news that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was assessing a local facility to temporarily house unaccompanied alien children that had come into the U.S. from Central America was a total surprise, a village official told Illinois Review Monday.
“The mayor called me about it 6:47 am Monday morning, and we were surpised to hear about it as much as our residents were,” Village Administrator David Mekarski told Illinois Review. “We want the people of Olympia Fields to know that we weren’t hiding anything – we simply didn’t know about it until this morning.”
Mekarski said the city began getting media requests about the federal government’s intentions to move children from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras into a local facility that is owned by a Pentecostal church. The All Nations Assembly, which has available residential quarters on its 20 acre property, had been approached by HHS and informed they were being considered for emergency arrangements.
Read more here.
