Texas business Dynamic Travel Cruises and its owner Steve Cosgrove are holding a toy drive to benefit the undocumented and unaccompanied children being held by Border Patrol in the state.

According to CBS Dallas, Cosgrove was shocked to see protesters in Murrieta, California, force Department of Homeland Security buses transferring some of the children, most of them from Central America, to turn around.

"I saw the protest against the kids out in California, and I thought that screaming at a bus load of 10-year-olds or 8-year-olds who just hiked 1,600 miles to get here was not the way America should be represented," Cosgrove said.

The protesters were encouraged by Murrieta Mayor Alan Long and chanted things like, "Send them back!" causing the buses to take an alternative route through San Diego, an hour south of Murrieta.

"They're children," Cosgrove told Fox News Latino. "If you have to protest, take it to your senator's office or to Washington, D.C. These children are scared. They're doing what their parents told them to do. They were piled into a bus, and then they find themselves going into a crowd of angry adults with signs, screaming at them. Six-year-olds and 8-year-olds can't change the laws."

Dynamic Travel Cruises is seeking donations of items like used stuffed animals, dolls and balls, CBS Dallas reports. According to FNL, donations are "pouring in" thanks to a broadcast on a local TV station.

"People have been bringing in bags of toys, and people from out of town are sending checks," Cosgrove explained. "These children have nothing. They came with nothing. If a scared little girl can curl up at night with a teddy bear or have a doll to play with, or a little boy can kick a ball around, [it could help]."

Cosgrove added that he will take the toys and monetary donations to a nearby Catholic Charities agency, which will give them out to the minors.

"These kids have seen and been through things our kids have never seen: criminal gangs, violence, poverty," he said. "We're Texans. We can do better for them."

Over 52,000 unaccompanied minors have been caught crossing the Texas-Mexico border since October, The Associated Press reported. It is expected that 90,000 minors, mostly from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, will be caught at the border this year, 10 times more than in 2011, according to government estimates.
---

Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.

Related