MARIETTA, Ga. — A Georgia pastor trying to open a shelter for unaccompanied migrant children in federal custody is getting pushback from people in an Atlanta suburb who call his efforts morally offensive.
Stone Mountain pastor Mitchell Bryant got zoning board approval to use a former residential drug treatment center in Marietta to house up to 50 unaccompanied migrant children.
Six area residents including a Unitarian minister wrote a letter saying separating children from their caregivers should offend the moral sensibility of every citizen of Marietta. The City Council is set to vote whether to approve the pastor's request on Dec. 11.
11Alive previously reported that Bryant said he sees this possible opportunity as a calling.
“My calling is to look after the least of these, it could be my child, it could be someone else’s child, you never know," he said.
NBC News reports 69,550 migrant children were held in government custody in the U.S. over the past year. About 4,000 are still in government custody, according to NBC.
When migrant children are apprehended at the U.S-Mexico border, the minors are processed through border patrol and then placed under the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Many are placed in large shelters.
According to NBC, the Trump administration's strict immigration policies has increased the time unaccompanied children spend in detention. The United Nations says that there are more kids detained away from their parents here than any other country.
Bryant says the facility would be a chance to show compassion to children who are impacted by the system.
“We can uphold the law, we can go by all the statutes, all the policies, but we can do it with a comfortable place to live, get the attention that they need because they are still, these are still children," he said.
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