Group wants to bring immigrant children here

A local charity wants to bring some of the thousands of children caught illegally crossing the U.S. border to Cincinnati.

More than 57,000 minors have arrived since October, mostly from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, and tens of thousands of families have arrived, too.

Federal officials are looking for sites to house the children; some cities like Syracuse, Milwaukee and others have said they would welcome the children; others have tried to block busloads of them. Federal law requires that children be placed in protective care while their immigration cases are resolved.

A Cincinnati organization might have a solution for a small percentage of those children.

Catholic Charities Southwestern Ohio has applied for a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). If they receive the grant, immigrant children would be coming to Cincinnati.

"The grant is pretty specific," said Ted Bergh, the Chief Executive Officer of Catholic Charities. "We would put them (children) in an dormitory environment that provides shelter for them for short term. The average term would be 35 days. We would provide housing and put them in an environment where they would have education and counseling."

Bergh said Catholic Charities would take in 50 children with a maximum of 100.

"They can come from anywhere in the world," said Bergh. "Most likely they would be coming from Central America but it's not limited to Central America."

The building and where it would be located in Cincinnati is not known. "We're still working on the location," said Bergh.

Catholic Charities has to apply for the grant by Aug. 5. Bergh said he was not sure when a decision would be made but guessed somewhere between 60-90 days after the deadline.

Bergh is also being realistic about the organization's chance of getting the grant.

"We haven't done this work before so I would say it's probably more likely that we would not (get the grant)," said Bergh. "I have no way of judging that. It's something that we think we should be doing."

Catholic Charities Southwestern Ohio does have the support of Mayor Cranley, should they get the grant.

"I think a faith-based response like that is an appropriate response for our community," said Cranley. "I think it's the right thing to do. And Catholic Charities and the archdioceses has a long history. Predominantly the children are coming from Central America, which are largely Catholic countries. The Catholic church has a great deal of experience with these issues and I think that's the best way for our community to respond."

Hannah Haney and the Associated Press contributed