Navy shelter for immigrant kids extended through January

July 29--VENTURA, Calif. -- The temporary shelter for unaccompanied immigrant children at Naval Base Ventura County will continue providing services through at least January 2015 -- four months longer than the Defense Department originally authorized.

And the nonprofit contracted to run the Port Hueneme shelter, Texas-based Southwest Key Programs, is hiring an additional 330 positions to staff the facility.

The shelter is currently home to nearly 250 immigrant teenagers -- primarily from Guatemala, El Salvador or Honduras -- that were apprehended illegally crossing the border without a guardian.

Since the shelter opened June 6, about 1,300 13- to 17-year-olds have been temporarily housed and discharged, according to Administration for Children and Families spokesman Kenneth Wolfe.

Naval Base Ventura County was one of three military sites designated as temporary shelters by the Defense Department to help the Health and Human Services Department cope with the surge of Central American children crossing the border without a parent.

Custody of an unaccompanied minor detained at the border is transferred within 72 hours to Health and Human Services, which has about 100 permanent shelters near the southwest border that have been recently overwhelmed.

The Department of Homeland Security reported 57,000 unaccompanied children were apprehended at the border during the nine-month span between October and June. That number is expected to hit 90,000 by the end of the fiscal year -- a nearly fourfold increase from the 24,000 unaccompanied minors detained by Customs and Border Patrol during the 2013 fiscal year.

The Administration for Children and Families' Office of Refugee Resettlement -- under the Health and Human Services Department -- temporarily houses the children until they can be released to a relative or sponsor in the United States while their immigration case is processed.

More than 30,300 children have been discharged throughout the country since the beginning of the year, including 3,150 that have been released in California, according to the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

Along with extending operations at the shelters in Ventura County, Texas and Oklahoma that have a total capacity of about 3,000 children, the Defense Department announced it will provide another 5,000 beds.

The Defense Department has not identified additional locations for temporary shelters, but Naval Base Ventura County Commanding Officer Capt. Lawrence Vasquez said the base does not expect to increase its shelter capacity beyond the current 575 beds, according to a statement published on Facebook.

Southwest Key Programs is in the midst of a six-day job fair at the Ventura Beach Marriott to fill more than 330 temporary positions at the Port Hueneme shelter.

Published open positions included 275 youth care workers, 25 case managers, 20 teachers, and a handful of medical coordinators, housekeeping and laundry workers, a shift leader and accounts payable clerk, according to the nonprofit's website Tuesday.

Youth care workers -- who can earn $22 per hour -- supervise the children and are required to "develop positive rapport with youth while serving as a role model," according to the website.

The job fair will continue Wednesday and Thursday at the Ventura Beach Marriott at 2055 E. Harbor Blvd. from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Requirements to work at the shelter include being at least 21 years old, legally permitted to work in the U.S., having a valid driver's license or ID, speaking and understanding Spanish, and having at least a high school diploma or GED.

Shelter staff cannot have had a misdemeanor or felony in the last 10 years; have a history of crimes including probation, deferred adjudication or legal matters related to minors; and cannot have been refused auto liability insurance during the last seven years.

Maritza Rodriguez, 23, was among dozens of hopeful applicants filling up four banquet rooms at the Ventura hotel for the job fair Tuesday morning.

The Oxnard resident said she found out about the job openings from one of her friends who currently does clerical work at the shelter.

"I just want to work with something new," she said. Rodriguez added Southwest Key Programs recruiters said she would best fit the medical coordinator position because of her experience working as an office manager.

Maria Duarte, a recruitment manager for Southwest Key Programs overseeing the job fair, would not answer any questions about the Port Hueneme shelter. Duarte, who said she started with the nonprofit mid-June, referred all media inquiries to the nonprofit's Austin-based spokeswoman Cindy Casares.

Casares did not respond to repeated phone calls Tuesday.

___

(c)2014 Ventura County Star (Camarillo, Calif.)

Visit Ventura County Star (Camarillo, Calif.) at www.vcstar.com

Distributed by MCT Information Services