June 20, 2018

More than 20 Members of the New York City Council on Wednesday requested a tour of the three Bronx detention centers reportedly warehousing immigrant children who have been separated from their families, as well as details regarding their conditions and treatment.

City Hall, NY — On Wednesday, 23 Council Members issued a
letter to the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, the Lutheran Social
Services and Catholic Guardian Services, formally requesting a tour of the
three Bronx facilities housing immigrant children who have been torn from their
parents. The letter also requests that the council members be provided details
on the children, including their treatment and condition.

“Every day, we learn of the unconscionable horrors being visited upon immigrant children who have been kidnapped from the arms of their parents,” Council Member Francisco Moya said. “The breathless reporting coming out of southern Texas is sickening. We cannot allow New York to aid and abet these state-sponsored child abuses. Legislators and the press must be allowed access to the facilities in our city and state where children who were torn from their families are now being detained.”

The tour request comes after the New York Daily News
reported there are an estimated 311 immigrant children who have been torn from
their families and are now being detained in New York State facilities,
including three in the Bronx. Remarkably, the city and state’s top officials
also appear to be largely in the dark about these facilities. 

To abduct children from the arms of their parents and
warehouse them in cages, tent cities or facilities scattered across the country
is inhumane and cruel beyond measure. That horror is compounded by the lack of
transparency and accountability concerning this immigration policy and these
detention centers.

In addition to the in-person tour, we further request
details about the children’s overall treatment, including but not limited to
the current number of children being detained, their ages and length of
detention, their daily routine, medical and psychological treatment and
immigration status.

America’s collective conscience has been shaken by the
ceaseless reporting of children dislocated from their families in the past few
days and weeks. Without access to these detention centers, our minds are left
to unconstrained speculation. We have asked the Office of Refugee Resettlement,
the Lutheran Social Services and Catholic Guardian Services reply to our
request no later than Monday, June 25, 2018.

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