A Third Of Separated Immigrant Kids Are Now Thought To Be In NY

NEW YORK, NY — Nearly a third of the immigrant children separated from their families at the southern U.S. border have been sent hundreds of miles away to New York, according to a new state estimate.

About 700 kids taken from their parents under the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy toward illegal border crossings are currently in the state, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday — 10 times as many as initially thought.

"More children came last night, more children came this morning and by definition they must continue to come," Cuomo told reporters on a conference call.

Those children are among more than 2,300 reportedly swept up in the policy calling for the prosecution of anyone caught crossing the border illegally, which federal officials have moderated since news of the situation spurred public outrage.

Cuomo said Tuesday that there were more than 70 kids in New York. State officials pieced together the new estimate by contacting foster care agencies that work with immigrant children, Cuomo said. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the resettlement of the kids, has not been forthcoming with information, he said.

Cuomo sent a letter Thursday to HHS Secretary Alex M. Azar II demanding more precise details about how many children are in the state, where they are housed and how many have been discharged to foster homes or family members.

"They're my legal charge," the Democratic governor said. "I am constitutionally responsible for the health and welfare of the children in my state, and if you don't tell me where they are, I can't provide and pursue my legal and constitutional responsibility."

HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

More than 350 immigrant children have been brought to a single East Harlem facility where they attend classes during the day before returning to foster homes, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday.

The number of children in New York is likely so high because the state has one of the nation's largest networks of foster care facilities, Cuomo said.

De Blasio, a Democrat, and other mayors from around the U.S. tried unsuccessfully to tour a border detention facility on Thursday in Tornillo, Texas, where he again condemned the separations.

"The families are not reunified, we don’t know when they’ll be," he said. "We’re going to fight for that."

Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the so-called zero tolerance policy in April in an effort to ramp up immigration enforcement.

Republican President Donald Trump issued an executive order Wednesday that keeps the policy in place, but says families should be detained together rather than separated. The federal government has no immediate plan to reunite parents and children who have already been separated, The New York Times reported.

The U.S. Border Patrol will no longer refer immigrant parents with children to federal courthouses after they illegally enter the U.S., though they could still face prosecution by the Department of Justice, the Washington Post reported Thursday.

Cuomo announced plans this week to sue the Trump administration over the policy.

(Lead image: Mayor Bill de Blasio tried to visit a border facility in Tornillo, Texas on Thursday. Photo from NYC Mayor's Office/Twitter)