Since October, more than 52,000 undocumented children have come into the U.S. Most of these children are from Central America, and many of them arrived unaccompanied by adults.
The local response here in Greater Houston has been mixed. Organizations like Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston are asking for donations, foster care parents, and volunteers to assist, as these children are processed. Federal officials recently toured a vacant HISD middle school as a potential temporary shelter. But some area communities oppose such assistance. The League City Council recently passed a resolution banning undocumented children from being housed there.
On this edition of Houston Matters, we explore the impact of immigrant-based local ordinances with Jeronimo Cortina, an Assistant Professor in the University of Houston's Department of Political Science.
Then, we learn the latest about the refugees, as well as ongoing efforts to secure the border, as we talk with Pedro Rojas, National Correspondent for Univision News Network for the Texas Region. He’s been traveling along the border for the past week.
Also this hour: It’s long been established that students tend to score lower on tests at the end of summer vacation than they do just before it begins. Efforts to address such summer “brain drain” usually revolve around keeping students engaged in learning through the summer months. A new project at a Houston elementary school seeks such engagement from students, but also – and critically – from parents. Houston Public Media education reporter Laura Isensee and education consultant Matt Barnes join us to discuss such efforts to help parents engage in a more active role in their children’s education.
Plus: It was an (ahem) eventful weekend for the NBA’s Houston Rockets. They traded Jeremy Lin and a first round draft pick to the Lakers for…basically nothing. It was an effort to clear cap room in order to sign free agent Chris Bosh, who ultimately decided to stay in Miami, despite LeBron James’ departure for Cleveland. The Rockets had also targeted Carmelo Anthony, to no avail. He returned to the New York Knicks. The Rockets then decided not to match the Dallas Mavericks’ offer sheet for restricted free agent Chandler Parsons, so Parsons is now a Mav. And in what has become a three team trade, the Rockets have moved Omar Asik, Omri Casspi and cash, while signing Trevor Ariza, who last played for the Rockets in 2010.
Did you get all that?
We ask Culture Map Houston sports columnist MK Bower to untangle this complicated web of personnel moves, which now seem to have left the Rockets with a lot more cap space, and a seemingly depleted roster behind James Harden and Dwight Howard.
