Hon. Kirstjen M.

Nielsen
Secretary of Homeland Security
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20528

Hon. Jeff B. Sessions

Attorney General of the United States
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530

Hon. Alex M. Azar II

Secretary of Health & Human Services
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Hubert H. Humphrey Building
200 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20201

Hon. Steven Wagner

Acting Assistant Secretary, Administration for Children & Families
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Hubert H. Humphrey Building
200 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20201

Dear Secretary Nielsen, Attorney General Sessions, Secretary Azar & Assistant Secretary
Wagner:

We write to express our frustration and deep disappointment with the inhumanity and lack of
transparency around the Trump Administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy, which remains in
effect and resulted earlier this summer in the separation of families crossing the U.S. border.
Although “family separation” at the U.S.-Mexico border has ended, thousands of children,
ripped away from their parents and sent to shelters and foster agencies throughout the nation,
are still awaiting reunification.

Your policy unnecessarily inflicts long-lasting trauma on children and their parents.
Furthermore, the uneven reunification process that has resulted from a well-intended federal
court order threatens to cause additional harm. We remain concerned for the welfare of the
separated children placed in New York City area shelters and foster agencies with U.S.
Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) contracts; and for those children who may soon
arrive, having been placed with local sponsors or whose guardians have come to New York
City to reunite with them.

The best way to serve these children is to ensure they can make decisions about their future
with their parents, including exploring opportunities to pursue humanitarian relief and options
for repatriation. We strongly believe that these families are best served in New York City,
where they can better access the legal, health and mental health services they need.
You must not exacerbate this problem by also denying separated families their rights to these
services.

The New York City Council stands ready to ensure that all children awaiting reunification or
previously reunified but living in New York City, as well as those who will remain in the City
while pursuing their immigration cases, have access to the legal and social work services they
need. However, to this day, we are still forced to rely on unofficial, sometimes leaked,
information provided by employees and investigative reporters. We do not even have a
verified count of the number of separated children in the City or those who have been reunited
with parents, to date.

This situation is untenable and unacceptable. We must have accurate and timely information
so that we can provide these children with appropriate services.

We therefore request that you immediately provide our offices with the following
information:

·​ ​ clear plan of action for families with children who were placed in
A
ORR-contracted facilities in New York City once they are reunited;
·​ ​Whether these families will be granted the opportunity to pursue their
immigration cases;
·​ ​Whether these families will be deported or detained;
·​ ​How you will ensure that these determinations will be made in an equitable
manner;
·​ ​Regular and timely updates as separated children living in New York
City are reunited with parents or sponsors;
·​ ​A confidential mechanism for connecting sponsors and reunified families
arriving or already living in New York City with city legal and social services;
and
·​ ​The date that ICE plans to reinstate in-person immigration hearings at the
Varick Street Courthouse.
The tragedy of this situation is compounded each day these children and their families remain
in federal custody or detention. We are committed to the well-being of all New Yorkers,
regardless of immigration status, especially vulnerable children. We hope that we can rely on
your cooperation so that we can help bring much-needed comfort to these children and end
this crisis.

Sincerely,

C​OREY ​J​OHNSON C​ARLOS ​M​ENCHACA

Speaker Chair, Committee on
Immigration