Woman Who Leaked Video Of Harlem Migrant Kids Center Speaks Out

EAST HARLEM, NY — A former employee of the East Harlem Cayuga Centers facility — which has processed hundreds of migrant children taken from the southern border — appeared Friday on "CBS This Morning" to speak out about what she witnessed while working at the facility.

Pamela Baez told "CBS This Morning" anchors that she quit her job at Cayuga Centers and leaked the video of a young girl named Jessica crying over being separated from her mother because of the "injustice" she witnessed at the facility in recent weeks.

"I think that what made me pull out a phone was knowing that these kids were getting psychologically — it was affecting them psychologically and physically as well," Baez said on the morning news show.

"I saw that the kids would start automatically crying because they didn't have the opportunity to speak to their parents who have been in detention centers."

Baez said that she was bothered by the "psychological trauma" suffered by the children and said the center didn't have enough resources such as phones and medical staff to accommodate the kids' needs. The former Cayuga Centers employee appeared on the show with her lawyer Michael Avennati, who is also representing Stormy Daniels in her legal fight against President Donald Trump and his lawyer Michael Cohen.

Several New York City officials have toured the foster care facility, located on Park Avenue near East 131st Street, since learning it was being used to process children taken from the southern border. No images or videos from inside were released as part of these tours.

Several New York City officials held a press conference last week praising Cayuga Centers for reuniting 100 migrant children with their family members in the United States. Of the 239 children taken to the facility, about 60 percent arrived at the border alone and 40 percent were separated from their families, Congressman Adriano Espaillat told reporters.

City Counilman Mark Levine stressed that the Cayuga Centers are "not complicit" in the separation of children from their families at the border and that people protesting the organization are "profoundly misguided."

"As long as kids are in New York City we need nonprofits like Cayuga to care for them," Levine said Friday.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday that federal officials are still keeping city and state officials in the dark about the number of migrant children being sent from the southern border to New York. Local officials have counted about 300 such children who are currently in the care of three social services organizations in the city, de Blasio said this week.

Watch Baez's full interview on "CBS This Morning" here.

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