Immigrant Children Welcome in Santa Clara County: Supervisor

A South Bay church is collecting donations for the thousands of immigrant children from Central America stuck in the middle of a national debate.

The Guadalupe Catholic Church in San Jose said the immigrant children are welcome at its parish. Many in the southwest are telling the children to go back to Central America.

"It breaks my heart," said Idania Peralta of the Guadalupe Parish. "I take it really personal. I love my community, and those faces are the faces of many children running around here. That could be happening to them as well."

The church has already taken away one load of donations and shipped them to San Diego for the children.

Donations are being collected by Working Partnerships.

Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez co-authored a letter with the South Bay Congressional Delegation and other law makers alerting Washington the immigrant children are welcome in the South Bay.

"We have children in need of a secure and safe place to be," Chavez said. "Our objective is to make sure if the federal government is in need of support, that this county is prepared to offer it in the most humane and dignified way we can."

The county is identifying a place right now to process the immigrants and is looking for temporary foster homes for the children while their cases are reviewed by immigration agents.

"This is a defining moment in our nation's history," said Maria Noel Fernandez of Working Partnerships. "We here, at least in San Jose and Santa Clara County, people are really supporting these families.

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