The busload of illegal immigrant children never showed up, but the protesters and counterprotesters did.

On a sun-drenched Sunday afternoon, an estimated 85, some said to represent the Lehigh Valley Tea Party, protested the housing of illegal immigrant youths at the KidsPeace Broadway Campus, Salisbury Township.On a sidewalk on the south side of Broadway, protesters stood and sat, holding signs, waving signs, chanting "USA" and cheering when passing vehicles sounded their horns in support.Across the street, a counterprotest of approximately 25, some of whom identified themselves as members of the International Workers of the World, waved red flags and also brandished signs, some stating, "No child is Illegal."Salisbury Township police dispatched three officers and patrol cars to ensure the safety of protesters and passing motorists at the KidsPeace Broadway campus, 1650 Broadway, in the vicinity of Gauff Hill in Lehigh County, near the borough of Fountain Hill and west of Bethlehem.St. Luke's University Hospital Health Network Emergency Medical Services Outreach had two personnel and two vehicles on the scene, including one ambulance.Salisbury police reported no incidents during the protest, which began at 11 a.m.The number of protesters dwindled by 1:30 p.m. under a hot midafternoon sun."There's no bus and none scheduled," said Bevin Theodore, Director of Public Relations & Communications for KidsPeace, Sunday at the Broadway campus. "I don't know where they got that."The Times News received an email Friday from the Lehighton 9/12 Project stating, "We have learned that the Kids Peace facility at Fountain Hill may be receiving a bus or van full of 'illegal Immigrant children' this weekend from the South West border area in cooperation with the federal government's plan to ship them all over the country."The email urged, "We need to stand with our sister Lehigh Valley 9/12 Tea Party."The federal Office of Refugee Resettlement began housing what are officially termed "refugee children" in May 2013 at the KidsPeace campus.The program is funded by a $3.5 million grant to house children allegedly caught at the Mexican border attempting to cross into the United States.Up to 72 unaccompanied children for up to 45 days were to be housed at five dorm-style residences at the KidsPeace Broadway campus. Up to 109 youths can be housed at KidsPeace Broadway.The KidsPeace housing of the immigrant children met requirements of the township zoning ordinance, Salisbury officials said.KidsPeace Broadway campus children residences were unoccupied as of 2008.The KidsPeace Orchard Hills Campus in Orefield houses as many as 200 youths who are not in the federally funded immigrant youth program.Photo gallery:

http://www.tnonline.com/gallery/protest-kidspeace-refugee-children.