New Mexico denies license for shelter for immigrant boys

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico agency has rejected an Arizona-based organization’s application for a planned Albuquerque shelter for immigrant children in the country illegally.

The Albuquerque Journal reports that a New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department official told Tucson-based VisionQuest in a letter Wednesday that it failed to accurately describe why Pennsylvania temporarily revoked a license for a facility near Gettysburg in 2015.

VisionQuest can appeal New Mexico’s denial of a license to shelter up to 60 boys ages 11 to 17 who are in federal custody after entering the country without a legal guardian.

VisionQuest spokeswoman Amanda Burton said Friday that the company intends to provide additional documentation to the state and is concerned that the New Mexico agency considered incomplete information “more than a simple omission.”