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Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner today urged President Barack Obama to open a Syracuse center to house immigrant children awaiting deportation.

(Scott Schild | sschild@syracuse.)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Mayor Stephanie Miner wrote to President Barack Obama today to urge federal officials to establish a site in Syracuse to house immigrant children awaiting deportation.

Federal officials have explored using six buildings at the former Maria Regina College, a 10-acre campus at Court Street and Grant Boulevard, said Rochelle Cassella, speaking for the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities.

The inspection was part of an initial site assessment to see if two former convents or the former Maria Regina College center may be suitable for temporarily housing an undetermined of children from Central America who are awaiting deportation hearings. The site could potentially house between 100 and 200 children, Miner told The Associated Press today.

Related story: Bishop says Roman Catholic Diocese ready to help children

As of Wednesday, the Sisters of St. Francis had not heard any update from the Department of Health and Human Services, Cassella said.

Miner today said in her letter that "the entire Syracuse community'' wants to help with the humanitarian crisis that has arisen as thousands of unaccompanied minors have crossed the U.S. border from Central America. "Only terror could force a child to leave home and walk hundreds of miles to a strange place,'' Miner wrote.

The mayor noted that Syracuse has a long history of accepting immigrants and working with refugees.

Here is the full text of Mayor Miner's letter:

Hon. Barack H. Obama

President of the United States

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear President Obama:

The purpose of this letter is to ask for your help to create a partnership between Syracuse and the federal government to help mitigate the humanitarian crisis of the unaccompanied minors arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Like many Americans, people in Syracuse are engrossed by the plight of the children arriving at our border. As a city with a rich immigrant tradition we feel strongly these children should be welcomed and protected. Toward that end, Syracuse would welcome the opportunity to provide shelter while the larger global issues causing them to leave home for such an arduous journey are resolved.

While the Department of Health and Human Services has already completed a partial assessment of a potential site in Syracuse, we stand ready to expedite this process and work through any issues so we can accomplish the goal of providing a safe and welcoming site. The federal officials have been open and transparent as we work through these issues yet we feel we can move faster to mitigate this crisis. Indeed, the desire to help exists across the entire Syracuse community. The leadership of the religious, academic, and non-profit community have all expressed to me a commitment to be part of a holistic solution to mitigate the humanitarian crisis we are all seeing unfold. With your administration's commitment we can quickly and efficiently work through the practical problems with a goal of providing shelter and compassion to these victims of circumstance.

In recent years, the Syracuse community has been part of the successful network the U.S. government has relied on for the placement and settlement of refugees. We are proud of the service network that has developed here in Syracuse to serve displaced persons from all corners of the globe and we stand ready to continue serve in this effort. Our city's immigrant history very much defines us and we would be proud to continue that tradition as our nation faces this latest immigration crisis.

We hope you will accept our offer. The exodus of these young people to our borders is particularly tragic. Only terror could force a child to leave home and walk hundreds of miles to a strange place. Our nation is rightly proud to point to the famous promise at the entrance to New York Harbor: "send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me." Here in Syracuse we stand ready to live up to that promise and attend to the "huddled masses yearning to breathe free." We look forward to hearing from you.



Sincerely,

Stephanie A. Miner

Mayor



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