Corona, N.Y. — On Tuesday, Council Member Francisco Moya and several elected officials toured Rising Ground, a facility in Yonkers, New York, that houses unaccompanied minors — including immigrant children separated from their families under the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy.

“It’s difficult to manage the cognitive dissonance that comes from visiting an immigrant children’s facility on the eve of America’s Independence Day. The Fourth of July is a day when the nation celebrates freedom and the ideals that make it a beacon of hope for people around the world — like those who braved dangerous conditions to reach the border. These children and their families came here in search of the American Dream but instead discovered a decidedly American story — one where immigrants and people of color are vilified and scapegoated. What is the Independence Day for if not to recognize the fortitude and perseverance these immigrants so clearly exemplified? These children deserve to be with their families, and their families deserve a pathway to citizenship.

“I am grateful to see the children at Rising Ground are being cared for by kind and compassionate people,” Council Member Francisco Moya said after the Tuesday morning tour, which Congressman Eliot Engel, Assemblywoman Ari Espinal, Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow, New York City Public Advocate Letisha James, State Senators Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Shelley Mayer also attended.

“Rising Ground is staffed by compassionate people who are clearly caring for these children as best they can. There are a total of 95 children in Rising Ground’s custody. Of those children, fewer than 20 were sent there as a result of the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy. All of the children torn from their families at the border have either been put in contact with a family member or a sponsor. Each minor at Rising Ground is assigned to a child psychologist, clinician and caseworker, all of whom are bilingual. I want to thank them for their service and tenderness under such difficult and emotional conditions.

“There is, however, no quality of care that will silence my calls to reunite each and every child with the parent he or she was torn from under the unspeakably cruel zero-tolerance policy. The revelations over the past few weeks of images and audio from inside child immigration detention centers make disturbingly clear that these children don’t just need to be reunited with their families, they need to be rescued from the Trump administration.

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