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Facility not ready for 1,000 immigrant children

Posted at 6:44 AM, Jan 11, 2016
and last updated 2016-01-11 08:44:52-05

Colorado is getting ready welcome about 1,000 unaccompanied immigrant children to our state but lawmakers say not much has been done to prepare to house them.

On December 30th, lawmakers told us children who escaping the violence in Central America will move to a warehouse in a secure federal complex in Lakewood as early as April.
   
The children won’t be integrated into the Denver community and schools, instead, they’ll be fed, taught and cared for inside that facility 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
   
Lawmakers said the warehouse will be retrofitted for that use. However, that hasn't started yet. No contractors have been hired to work on the facility.
   
Some worry it won't be complete by April if the Department of Health and Human Services doesn't hire the employees and crew necessary to make the preparations.

The children will live in the facility for about a month until they are sponsored or taken in by a foster family.

MORE | Federal Center in Lakewood to house hundreds of immigrant children

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