Up to 141 'unaccompanied minors' may be headed to former nursing home off Military Trail south of Lake Worth Road.

The federal government has begun sending immigrant girls to a facility west of Lake Worth Beach, bringing the immigration crisis that has been roiling the U.S. southern border to Palm Beach County.

As many as 141 children described in zoning documents as "unaccompanied minors" can be placed into the facility, located at 4445 Pine Forest Drive off of Military Trail south of Lake Worth Road.

The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, a group founded in 1911 to advance the interests of immigrants, is managing the facility through a contract with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement.

The term "unaccompanied minor" has generally been used to describe children who have left their homes and attempted to gain entry into the United States on their own. It it not known if the facility will house only such immigrants or if it also will be used to house children separated from their parents at the border.

The policy of separating children from their parents has outraged critics of the Trump administration, whose officials have both denied it is carrying out the practice and, conversely, acknowledged its use as a deterrent to those fleeing poverty and violence in Central America.

Father Frank O'Loughlin, the executive director of the Guatemalan-Maya Center in Lake Worth Beach who reached out to the facility's operators, said he's been told that middle school-age girls will be housed at the facility.

It is not clear where the girls are from, though O'Loughlin said he believes some are likely to be indigenous children from Central America.

Palm Beach County Commissioner Gregg Weiss, whose district includes the facility, said he was happy to have his staff help facilitate zoning changes in November, which he saw as an opportunity to provide a clean, safe place for children while their immigration status is determined.

He said he opposes separating immigrant children from their parents.

"They told us it was going to be unaccompanied minors," Weiss said. "I don't support children being separated from their parents at all. That's unacceptable."

Weiss said his view of the facility would change if he learned children separated from their parents were being housed there.

"It would definitely be a big difference to me," he said.

The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants got zoning changes from the county in late 2018 that allowed it to make temporary use of an additional 68 beds at the Pine Forest Drive facility, which initially had 93 units when it was approved in 1988 as a nursing home.

Minors can now be housed at the facility through Sept. 30, 2021.

The committee sent a letter to Weiss on Dec. 13 thanking his staff and other county employees for their help in approving the zoning changes.

"Because of the extra effort of these folks and those copied below, many vulnerable children will find a safe place," wrote Lee D. Williams, the committee's senior vice president.

Conditions at private, for-profit immigrant detention centers along the southern border have sparked outrage at the Trump administration, which has separated children from parents seeking asylum in America.

The Trump administration has been unable to reunite all of the children separated from their families. And recent reports of children being housed in cages without bedding and toothbrushes renewed rage at a president who has made illegal immigration a focus of his administration.

Trump has said mass deportations of illegal immigrants will begin next week, a threat that has sent waves of fear through some immigrant communities.

In May, reports surfaced that federal officials would transport 1,000 immigrants per month from Texas to Broward and Palm Beach counties. The next day, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said they would not send them "at this time" and instead were sizing up processing capacity across the country.

In the days before and after the Democratic Party's first presidential debates last week in Miami, candidates trooped to an immigration detention facility in Homestead to decry the administration's policies.

The candidates were not allowed to enter the facility.

Likewise, a reporter for The Palm Beach Post was not allowed entry to the Lake Worth-area facility.

A woman and man who answered the door Monday said visits would have to be approved by the federal government's Office of Refugee Resettlement.

Asked how such approval could be streamlined, the pair suggested the reporter contact "a congressional person."

U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, whose district includes the facility, said her office "has been in touch with the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants and I have requested a tour."

Frankel added: "I look forward to speaking with the children at this center, hearing their stories and finding ways I can continue advocating for them in Congress."

A spokeswoman for the committee said its contract with HHS bars it from speaking to the media. She referred questions to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which did not respond to requests for comment.

According to some of the zoning paperwork, Alzheimer's patients will remain at the facility, but they and the immigrant children "shall be clearly separated from each through the necessary acceptable means established by the State or FL Building Code."

Youth Co-Cop, a social service provider in Palm Springs, is working with the committee to provide services such as English language classes. An official with that organization would not answers questions from a Post reporter, referring inquiries to the committee.

News that the federal government was planning to house migrant children in Lake Worth was first reported last week by The New York Times.

The 60,000-square-foot facility on about 8.5 acres opened in 1988 as a 93-unit nursing home.

Property records indicate it is owned by Volunteer Properties of Lake Worth LLC, which is linked in state records to K.C. Cross, a nursing home executive.

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