Hundreds of Immigrant Kids Separated from Parents Are Sent to New York

A 17-year-old mother from Central America crossed over the southern border with her 2-year-old son in January seeking asylum. Together they were sent to one of 10 agencies in New York that house what the government calls "unaccompanied alien children." But the following month, when the mother turned 18, she was deemed an adult and transferred to a county jail in New Jersey that detains immigrants on behalf of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Her 2-year-old son remained at the agency's group home in New York. 

In May, the woman was released from detention, on bond. Her son, however, was not. For two weeks, the mother was only granted periodic visitations.

"It was very traumatizing every time they saw each other," said Sally Pillay, program director at First Friends of New Jersey and New York, which advocates for asylees and refugees. "Both mom and the child were crying profusely. And that's what sets off increased trauma on the child and on mom — because they both are children, and both are traumatized."

The boy was ultimately released, and mother and son are now living with relatives in Texas. 

The incident reveals the degree to which family separation permeates all aspects of immigration policy, particularly under the Trump Administration, and also the role of the nonprofit child services industry in New York that this year alone is collecting more $100 million from the federal government to care for immigrant children. 

As many as 200 immigrant children separated from their parents at the border as part of the controversial zero tolerance immigration policy are now living in the New York area, at group homes or with foster families, according to the New York Civil Liberties Union. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo estimated the total is somewhat lower, 70, but growing.

The 10 nonprofit agencies in New York have multi-million dollar contracts with the federal government to provide care for the children. In prior years these contracts were most applicable to those children who came across the border without their parents, usually older teenagers. But as part of the new family separation policy the contracts now apply to any child, of any age, forcibly split from parents at the border and escorted by a government contractor all the way to New York to one of these agencies. 

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, which operates the program, did not explain why the children are being sent to New York, but advocates believe it is because facilities closer to the border are running out of beds as family separations balloon.

WNYC confirmed that at least three agencies in New York are currently caring for immigrant children recently separated from their parents: Abbott House in Westchester, Rising Ground in Westchester and MercyFirst on Long Island. 

These nonprofits are established agencies that are inspected by the state. Children may attend school, learn a little English and practice reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. But their parents often do not know where they are. An immigrant currently detained in Elizabeth, NJ, told Pillay that his five-year-old daughter was forcibly taken from him in the middle of the night, while he was sleeping at a detention facility at the border. He doesn't know where she is, but he heard a rumor that she could be in Michigan.

The agencies' contracts demand that the children's basic food and medical needs are provided for — but the kids are still detainees, and there's limitations on their movements. Those housed in foster homes are forbidden, for example, from going to a friend's home unsupervised.

Sources inside these agencies told WNYC they are conflicted by their arrangements with the Trump Administration. While they believe they are doing God's work — caring for children who have no one else — they also feel complicit in a family separation policy that is widely criticized as immoral. 

Some of these agencies are religiously connected, which has exposed a conflict. While Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, called family separation "unbiblical," the agency Catholic Guardian Services, which is affiliated with the archdiocese, has received more than $7 million in the last six months to provide foster services for unaccompanied alien children. 

The following is a list of all the agencies in New York, plus one in New Jersey, with taxpayer-funded contracts to accept children separated from their parents at the border and house them in group homes or with foster families. The contracts, rounded up to the nearest dollar figure, are for the current fiscal year.

• Abbott House (Westchester County) - $2.5 million
• Catholic Guardian Services (New York City) - $7.5 million 
• Cayuga Home for Children (New York City) - $40 million
• Center for Family Services (Camden, NJ) - $4 million
• Jewish Child Care Association (New York City) - $2 million
• Rising Ground (Westchester) - $14.3 million
• Lincoln Hall (Westchester) - $16.4 million
• Lutheran Social Services (New York City) - $5 million
• Mercy First (Long Island) - $5.7 million
• Children's Home of Kingston (Ulster County) - $2.1 million 
• Children's Village (Westchester) - $6.9 million