For a proposed federal shelter for homeless immigrant teens taken at the border, the Alma City Commission may finally end a summer filled with delays.
A meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 14, is moved to the Alma High School auditorium instead of City Hall, in anticipation of another massive crowd, matching the 400 who flocked to a Planning Commission hearing in July.
The plan would open a vacant former nursing home for up to 36 teenage refugees from wartorn Central American nations, for temporary 45-day shelter while they are connected with foster or adoptive homes.
Residents are divided. Opponents express fears that the teenagers will bring criminal backgrounds, along with cases of covid and other plagues. Supporters of accepting the shelter program say the fears are unfounded.
Foes have been in the majority, and the Planning Commission voted 5-2 in July to recommend that the City Commission turn down the plan.
This has caused civil right activists, including some from Saginaw, to perceive that race bias has become a factor, creating an expansion of support for the shelter facility. They have attended the Alma meetings, and have urged others to join them in the 40-mile travel out M-46 west. Mid-Michigan residents also may keep up to date by Google searching “Alma immigration” or visiting the city’s website, myalma.org.
