HOUSTON – A storm was brewing outside, but the threat of rain did little to stop dozens of activists who came together to protest what an east end Houston warehouse is set to become.
"We need to continue the fight, if it rains, snows, or shines we have to continue to fight," said state Senator Sylvia Garcia.
Families, local leaders and activists with FIEL, a local immigrant rights group chanted just outside the barbed wire as the rain fell.
"It looks like a concentration camp," said Dylan Allen. "It doesn't look like anywhere anyone should live, especially children."
The warehouse was home to Star of Hope Mission and most recently helped house Harvey evacuees after the storm.
But now KHOU 11 News has learned the east end building has been leased to Southwest Key Programs. The government contractor already runs several immigrant holding facilities in Texas.
This one would be the first to house immigrant children separated from their parents. Southwest Key has applied for a license from the state to house up to 240 children at the warehouse.
"It's Father's Day I'm here with my father, and the idea that some children are being separated from their parents is something I can't live with," said Katy Pando. "We don't want a baby jail here or anywhere else in Texas or the nation."
The facility could house children as young as 18 months and as old as 12 years old. Mayor Sylvester Turner has come out against it and vows the city will do whatever it can to try and stop it.
"I think the policy's morally bankrupt," said Turner. "And I don't want the city of Houston to be a part of a policy that strips children from their parents."
The Trump administration stands by its actions. It says it's following the law. So far 2,000 children have been separated from their families at the U.S. border in the last six weeks alone. Officials say the children are receiving excellent care.
Still, protesters in Houston are calling on the president to stop this.
"We should not be separating children from their families, period," said Pando.