Mississippi state officers have refused to assist plans to deal with as much as 250 unaccompanied migrant kids in two former on line casino accommodations.
The Tunica County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 on Thursday towards issuing a letter in favor of the proposal.
This adopted months of opposition from native officers and Sheriff Ok.C. Hamp, who oversees the county of just below 10,000 individuals.
Hamp believes the county lacks assets to look after migrants, together with healthcare services, that means the duty would spill over to neighboring communities.
‘Sufferers must be taken to hospitals in DeSoto, Tate, Coahoma County together with space hospitals in Memphis, Tennessee,’ Hamp informed WREG. He additionally expressed concern concerning the emergence of a language barrier.
Mississippi state officers have refused to assist plans to deal with unaccompanied migrant kids in two former on line casino accommodations in Tunica County (pictured: coworkers watch as immigration officers raid the Koch Meals Inc. plant in Morton, August 2019)
The 2 vacant accommodations have been previously a part of the Harrah’s on line casino complicated, which shuttered in 2014 after years of decline
The vacant accommodations are designated via contracts from the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Companies and its accomplice businesses. They have been previously a part of the Harrah’s on line casino complicated, which shuttered in 2014.
As soon as boasting the biggest on line casino flooring between New Jersey and Las Vegas, Harrah’s was hard-hit by the Nice Recession and noticed the variety of guests drop off steeply earlier than it started bleeding jobs.
These challenges have been solely compounded as rival casinos started to spring up in neighboring states.
Southland Park Gaming and Racing in West Memphis, Arkansas, succeeded in luring lots of Tunica’s former patrons earlier than the on line casino formally went below.
Earlier plans to utilize the property didn’t pan out, together with a proposal to outfit it with a 200-space RV park, golf course and water park.
Throughout Thursday’s assembly, lawyer Shantrell Nicks clarified that the power would maintain as much as 250 kids aged 17 and youthful, relatively than the two,000 beforehand mentioned.
The Tunica County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 towards issuing a letter in favor of the proposal, which might see as much as 250 kids aged 17 and below housed at two accommodations
The location would function for 5 years and wouldn’t enable guests, in response to an lawyer for the corporate that wishes to take over (image: the Veranda resort, certainly one of two accommodations included within the plan)
The event got here after months of hardheaded opposition from native leaders who expressed considerations about prices and inadequate assets
Nicks works for Speedy Growth, the corporate that wishes to utilize the accommodations.
‘There´s no pressure to the native authorities because of this non permanent kids´s shelter,’ she stated, including that it could solely function for 5 years. ‘We’re not going to try to enroll these kids in native colleges.’
Nonetheless, state officers stood in adamant opposition. Some, like Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, penned letters to the Division of Well being and Human Companies to specific their considerations.
Hyde-Smith careworn the associated fee that might be handed onto native and state governments if a contact was awarded for web site.
A Border Patrol agent provides a gaggle of unaccompanied minors water after they have been apprehended close to the freeway on February 4, 2024 exterior Eagle Go, Texas
Secretary of State Michael Watson lauded her efforts and pledged to observe swimsuit.
‘Properly, these are kids,’ he informed WBLT. ‘I’d love them, too. And that’s our job. That’s what I’m known as to do as a Christian.
‘That’s not the federal government’s job. We will’t pressure the federal government to do one thing that people could select to do.’
Senator Roger Wicker additionally vowed to ship his personal letter. ‘A lot of my constituents had raised considerations about this venture’s affect on the group,’ he stated in a press release Friday.
‘It was clear that Tunica County´s well being care, transportation, and different companies weren’t ready for this sudden inflow. I’m glad this resolution has been halted for now, however I’m nonetheless fearful a couple of related proposal sooner or later.’
