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International Educational Services Closing Two Centers
- Updated: March 30, 2018
by Tony Vindell/LFN
The two International Educational Services Inc. centers in Los Fresnos are closing their doors after being in town since 1988, personnel with the non-profit organization said.
The two centers are along North Arroyo Boulevard and Highway 100 west of town.
International Educational Services, Inc. is a social service agency that serves short-term emergency shelter and foster care for unaccompanied alien children, or UAC. Its purpose is to provide a safe, healthy, and home-like environment where children receive care and services to foster a positive future, according to its Web site.
The agency programs are licensed by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, and referrals for placement are received solely from the Office of Refugee Resettlement, or ORRs.
The agency has successfully provided services and care for tens of thousands of children in its shelters and foster care programs in South Texas. IES extend a sincere thank you to the hundreds of dedicated staff, foster parents and the community, the agency said in a press release.
Cary Zayas, spokeswoman with the agency, said the two centers will close on March 31 and emphasized no embezzlement or criminal charges have occurred or taken place at IES.
The closing of the two IES centers here will impact the local economy, city officials said.
“I hear they are closing,” City Manager Mark Milum said. “If it’s true it is a big loss of jobs for this area and could impact our businesses with less people in the area during the day.”
Mayor Polo Narvaez expressed surprise when told about the two centers closing their doors.
“I know they hired a lot of people,” he said. “This will definitively have an impact on our local economy.”
The mayor said he did not know if President Donald Trump’s stand on immigration has something to do with what is going on with IES.
“I just know the president has been changing the immigration rules,” he said. ”They (the laws) keep constantly changing since he took office.”