MARIETTA, Ga. — A locally-based non-profit group is seeking a grant that would pay to open up a new shelter in Marietta to house 50 undocumented migrant children.
Freemont Grace Holdings' managing partner Mitchell Bryant explained the project to 11Alive's Elwyn Lopez.
Bryant, also a pastor at Atlanta Pavillion Fellowship Church, says he sees this possible opportunity as a calling.
“My calling is to look after the least of these, it could be my child, it could be someone else’s child, you never know," he said.
NBC News reports 69,550 migrant children were held in government custody in the U.S. over the past year. About 4,000 are still in government custody, according to NBC.
When migrant children are apprehended at the U.S-Mexico border, the minors are processed through border patrol and then placed under the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Many are placed in large shelters.
It's a temporary solution before finding a sponsor - typically a relative - to keep the children while their case goes through the immigration courts, which can take a long time.
According to NBC, the Trump administration's strict immigration policies has increased the time unaccompanied children spend in detention. The United Nations says that there are more kids detained away from their parents here than any other country.
Bryant says the facility would be a chance to show compassion to children who are impacted by the system.
“We can uphold the law, we can go by all the statutes, all the policies, but we can do it with a comfortable place to live, get the attention that they need because they are still, these are still children," he says.
Bryant is waiting to hear back from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement to see whether or not the organization has been approved a grant.
The funding would go toward renovations for the building, hiring more than 30 staff members and other necessities. Bryant says the children would be there for about 35 days.
“We are going to make an impact," Bryant vows. "It doesn’t take long to make a good impression so we are going to do that in those 35 days and see about the least of these, that’s what we are supposed to be doing."
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