Bill Would Force Child Agencies To Share Data On Immigrant Kids

NEW YORK, NY — Local and state officials found it tough to learn just how many immigrant children separated from their families were sent to New York as the federal government kept information close to its chest. But a bill two Democratic state lawmakers proposed Wednesday aims to help by forcing service providers to disclose such numbers.

Harlem state Sen. Brian Benjamin and East Village Assemblyman Harvey Epstein are behind the "Separated Children Accountability Response Act." The bill would require state-licensed child welfare agencies caring for so-called unaccompanied alien children to report every 15 days on how many such kids are in their custody, how many were forcibly taken from their parents, how many have been reunited with their parents, and other data points.

"We refuse to be kept in the dark by this morally bankrupt presidential administration: with this legislation we are clawing back the information we need to understand the scale of this crisis and hold agencies accountable so we can focus the necessary resources to reunite families," Epstein said in a statement.

The bill is a repsonse to the separation of immigrant families under the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy calling for the prosection of anyone caught crossing the southern border illegally.

More than 300 kids were brought hundreds of miles to New York after being torn from their parents, according to various estimates. Officials turned to the nonprofit agencies caring for them under federal contracts to get an idea of just how many are here, citing a lack of communication from the federal government.

Benjamin and Epstein's bill would collect data on the separated kids as well as the broader universe of unaccompanied alien children in the state, Benjamin spokesman Neil Reilly said.

The commissioner of the state's Office of Children and Family Services would collect the information from welfare agencies and could revoke an agency's license for failing to provide it, according to Benjamin's office. The figures would be made public in real time and shared with government officials upon request, a press release says.

The bill is unlikely to have an immediate impact. The state Legislature isn't due to return to Albany until January, and lawmakers have not heeded calls to reconvene on other issues such as abortion rights and New York City's speed camera program.

Faith leaders praised the effort regardless, citing a need for transparency.

"We support common sense legislation to clearly understand the progress made in reuniting families so that we as the public can act in a supportive way to ensure damage is minimized and further separations do not take place," Peter Cook, the executive director of the New York State Council of Churches, said in a statement.

(Lead image: State Sen. Brian Benjamin discusses the "Separation of Children Accountability Response Act" on Wednesday. Photo courtesy of Sen. Brian Benjamin's office)