August 4th, 2014 by WCBC Radio

WCBC News has learned that the Department of Homeland Security asked a local group that provides a home to children in need to take on a large number of unaccompanied and undocumented immigrant children.

Salem Children’s Trust was asked during a conference call on June 11^th to take a minimum of 50 of the children.  At the time Homeland Security said that due to the emergency, it would bypass normal governmental procedures, and would award a contract for 18 months with stays expected to be up to 30 days per child.  The conference call involved a handful of other similar homes, and DHS hoped to place a total of over 2000 children.

Salem declined to participate in the arrangement, having concerns about a number of issues.  The local trust usually houses about two dozen children, and taking as few as eight of the undocumented alien children would cause current residents to be moved to other housing on campus.

Salem officials also had concerns about the lack of screening for health concerns, gang involvement, and any history of abuse, neglect or sex trafficking.

The local Children’s Trust has also decided against participating in a request from the Maryland Office of Refugee Resettlement to submit a similar proposal due to the same reasons.

The state request was issued about two weeks ago, with a deadline of tomorrow.  The Department of Human Resources had asked for a statement of intention to participate by July 23^rd.