Congressional Reps Meet At Local Site Housing Immigrant Children

YONKERS, NY -- Four local Congressional representatives will hold a press conference Saturday outside Rising Ground in Yonkers. The center for children and families, formerly Leake & Watts, is one of four Westchester facilities to which the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has removed immigrant children from the border with Mexico.

All said they have asked to tour the facility but have not been granted permission. Local officials will join them at the event, they said.

Reps. Sean Patrick Maloney, Eliot Engel, and Nita Lowey said they will to call attention to President Donald Trump’s cruel family separation policy and discuss the critical need for further action to help reunify families separated by the Administration at the border, including passing the Central America Family Protection and Reunification Act which requires the State Department to play a robust role in reuniting families.

They said more than 2,300 migrant children are estimated to have been separated from their families at the border and sent to various locations throughout the country as a result of the government's unprecedented decision to tear families apart.

Most of the children are from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.

They said that while the president had signed an executive order that claims to end the inhumane policy of separating parents from their children, the consequences of his heartless action will have long-lasting repercussions.

They allege the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services have not provided any plan to reunify the separated children with their families.

In the absence of any comprehensive plan from the administration, they said, House Democrats have introduced legislation that would require the State Department – through U.S. embassies in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala – to prioritize supporting governments and citizens of these countries to facilitate immediate family reunification.

PHOTO: Rally/ Harrison-Edwards

Editor's Note: Rising Ground is a non-profit human services organization dedicated to caring for children and families. Formerly known as Leake & Watts, its comprehensive services include foster care, family stabilization, child care and Head Start, special education programs for children with emotional and/or learning disabilities, residential, day, and recreation services to individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities, and residential treatment services and group homes for youth who have experienced trauma.