Towns Across America Rebel Against Taking Illegals

As President Barack Obama grapples with how to shelter tens of thousands of illegal child immigrants from Central America, communities are fighting attempts by federal officials to relocate them to their towns, The New York Times reported.

The public mood against illegal immigrants has also worsened, in some cases manifesting in armed protests and graffiti, as local residents fight plans for opening shelters in their areas.

Officials have already been forced to scrap plans for shelters in California, Connecticut, Iowa, New York, Virginia and other states, while some towns in Texas have taken pre-emptive steps to block relocations, passing ordinances banning newly arrived immigrants from being placed in their communities.

A range of concerns have been cited, mainly focused on health and crime. Federal officials insist the migrant children do not pose a public health risk. But Krista Piferrer, a spokeswoman for Baptist Child and Family Services who runs the shelter at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, told the Times there had already been 133 cases of lice, 25 cases of scabies, 15 cases of chickenpox, and one case of H1N1 flu since May.

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