Maine Governor Paul LePage says eight unaccompanied children who crossed the nation's border illegally have been placed in Maine, according to Reuters.
LePage said Tuesday that he learned the information on a conference call with White House officials on Tuesday, but received no details on where the children are from or where they were placed, Reuters reported.
The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has been struggling to find shelter for the wave of unaccompanied child immigrants from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras that have been arriving at the Mexican border, which is expected to reach 90,000 people by September, according to Reuters.
LePage said President Barack Obama has failed to enforce border laws and says Maine can't be a state that "encourages illegal immigration," Reuters reported. Maine has no federal detention facilities.
"It is wrong for the federal government to force a higher burden on the people of Maine to pay for those who come to our country illegally," the Republican governor said in a statement, adding "We cannot become a state that encourages illegal immigration. We simply cannot afford it."
Susan Roche, executive director of the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, said she has no details on the specific situation but that unaccompanied children are released to family members in the U.S., if they have them, adding that they're often applying for asylum or seeking special immigrant juvenile status, according to Reuters.
LePage, known for his combative tone and strained relations with state Democrats, said he had not been informed of the plan to house the children ahead of time and joins a wave of Republican governors pushing back against the Democratic president on immigration, Reuters reported.
Some Democratic governors, notably Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, have offered to host children at facilities in their states, according to Reuters.
