A Portage man who fostered a young Guatemalan girl taken away from her father at the U.S. border by immigration agents says he feels conflicted about that role. Portage City Councilman Chris Burns says he believes home stays are better for children than mass shelters. But he says he and his wife felt like kidnappers as they tried to comfort a three-year-old who desperately missed her family. The girl was away from her family for about six months. Burns says though the Trump administration has said it will stop separating families, he’s worried about the thousands of children still in federal custody. He says there’s a shortage of foster parents who can help them.
Federal agents descended on a house in Kalamazoo this week. An idictment filed in federal court Thursday says the raid involved an operation forging documents for people in the U.S. illegally. The Kalamazoo Gazette says the raid on the house on South Westnedge Avenue involved agents from Homeland Security, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They say three people were involved in the operation, which also transported some undocumented migrants between Michigan and the East Coast.
President Donald Trump may have signed an executive order stopping the separation of immigrant children from their parents. But MLive says that probably won't stop more undocumented kids from coming to Michigan. State officials say 54 children detained by federal authorities at the border with Mexico are already in the state. They could be joined by 45 more. Some of those already here are less than a year old. The Trump administration says parents and children will now be held together at detention facilities. But a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1993 bans the government from holding children for more than 20 days.
Michigan State University trustees meet Friday amid new controversies related to its sexual abuse scandal. The most recent includes a dispute between university attorneys and the special prosecutor investigating its handling of abuse by former sports doctor Larry Nassar. The prosecutor says MSU is withholding documents in the case, but the university says they're protected by attorney-client privilege. MSU trustees may talk about how to pay a $500-million settlement to abuse survivors. Protests by students and some of Nassar's victims are expected.
Governor Rick Snyder signed his eighth and final state budget Thursday. It includes more money for roads. Snyder says money in this budget, combined with spending in previous years, means more than a billion dollars to fix Michigan's crumbling transportation infrastructure. The state’s "rainy day" fund will also reach more than a billion dollars during the fiscal year that starts October 1. The new general fund budget includes a provision eliminating money for Planned Parenthood. But Snyder says that's unconstitutional and won't be enforced. He plans to sign the state's new education budget next week.
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