Photo Courtesy of Emil Cohen/NY City Council
Councilman Menchaca is chairman of the Council Committee on Immigration.
By Michael V. Cusenza
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and Councilman Carlos Menchaca (D-Brooklyn), chairman of the Immigration Committee, on Monday released an open letter to Trump administration officials appealing for more information on the status of families that have been affected by the administration’s family separation policy implemented earlier this year. According to the councilmen, the administration has yet to comply or provide any information on a plan to reunify the families, despite an order from a federal judge issued three weeks ago.
“We write to express our frustration and deep disappointment with the inhumanity and lack of transparency around the Trump administration’s ‘zero-tolerance’ policy, which remains in effect and resulted earlier this summer in the separation of families crossing the U.S. border,” Johnson and Menchaca wrote. “Although ‘family separation’ at the U.S.-Mexico border has ended, thousands of children, ripped away from their parents and sent to shelters and foster agencies throughout the nation, are still awaiting reunification.”
Addressed to officials at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Attorney General’s Office, the missive called on the agencies to provide the City Council with the following information:
• A clear plan of action for families with children who were placed in U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement-contracted facilities in New York City once they are reunited;
• Whether these families will be granted the opportunity to pursue their immigration cases;
• Whether these families will be deported or detained;
• How you will ensure that these determinations will be made in an equitable manner;
• Regular and timely updates as separated children living in New York City are reunited with parents or sponsors;
• A confidential mechanism for connecting sponsors and reunified families arriving or already living in New York City with city legal and social services; and
• The date that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to reinstate in-person immigration hearings at the Varick Street Courthouse.
“The best way to serve these children is to ensure they can make decisions about their future with their parents, including exploring opportunities to pursue humanitarian relief and options for repatriation. We strongly believe that these families are best served in New York City, where they can better access the legal, health and mental health services they need,” Johnson and Menchaca added. “The tragedy of this situation is compounded each day these children and their families remain in federal custody or detention.”
