About 100 Separated Immigrant Kids Remain In NYC, Mayor Says

NEW YORK, NY — Around 100 immigrant children taken from their parents remain in New York City despite Thursday's court-ordered deadline for the reunifying all separated families, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

About 200 of the roughly 300 children brought to the city under the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy have been "released in one form or another," but it's uncertain whether they have in fact been reunited their parents, de Blasio said.

"There’s still over 100 kids here with no end in sight for them," de Blasio, a Democrat, said Thursday at an unreleated news conference. "It is something that is offensive to New Yorkers."

The latest figures indicate the separation saga is not over for dozens of children who were shipped hundreds of miles to the city, or for the local service providers who are caring for them.

De Blasio said the numbers he released came from social service providers rather than the federal government, which has stonewalled city officials' inquiries about the kids.

More than 2,500 children were separated from their parents under the federal policy calling for the prosecution of anyone caught crossing the southern border. A federal judge in California last month ordered the government to reunite all the families by Thursday, with an earlier July 10 deadline for kids younger than 5.

Some 1,012 familes had been reunited as of Tuesday, federal officials reportedly said at a court hearing, but more than 900 will remain apart from their children after Thursday. Some 463 parents are reportedly not in the United States, possibly because they were deported.

The process of taking the separated kids out of New York has been slipshod, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo. He said Cayuga Centers, one of the facilities caring for the children, was given a few hours notice to take 14 kids to LaGuardia Airport for a 2 a.m. flight, but only seven were able to leave from there.

Federal officials told Cayuga staff to take the other seven to Westchester County Airport for a 5 a.m. flight, Cuomo said, but only two actually had tickets. The rest were taken back to Cayuga after being driven around for hours, the governor said.

"Clearly this is gross incompetence and chaos on behalf of the federal government," Cuomo told reporters on a conference call Thursday.

Testimony from service providers two weeks ago similarly indicated a haphazard reunification process with short notice and limited coordination.

De Blasio said the separations have sparked both outrage and an "outpouring of support" from New Yorkers concerned about the children. The city has raised roughly $20,000 to aid the kids, first lady Chirlane McCray said, though she could not immediately break down how the money was spent.

(Lead image: Activists rally against the Trump administration's family separations on Wednesday. Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)