(CNN) Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner on Tuesday voiced opposition to a plan to house migrant children separated from their families at the border in a private facility in his city, saying he doesn't want to be an "enabler" of the Trump administration practice.

Turner said city officials first heard last week from immigration activists that the owner of a former warehouse and homeless shelter on the edge of downtown signed a long-term lease with Southwest Key Programs , a nonprofit that runs about 26 immigrant children's shelters across Texas, Arizona and California.

Citing what he described as a moral duty to no longer be silent about the practice of separating families, Turner called on the state, which has to license the facility, the property owner and Southwest Key Programs not to move forward with the plan to house migrant children up to 17 years old in the facility.

"I do not want the city to participate in this process. I do not want our facilities and property owners to participate in this process," Turner said, joined by city, state and religious officials.

A representative for Southwest Key Programs could not be reached on Tuesday.