Gov: 700 border kids in NY

ALBANY - Gov. Cuomo revealed Thursday the state may be housing as many as 700 children who were taken from their parents on the southern border as part of President Trump’s zero tolerance immigration policy.

That would make up roughly a third of the more than 2,000 who was separated from their families.

Cuomo said he believes a large percentage of kids were sent up north to New York because the feds are scrambling to place them, and the state has one of the largest network of foster care agencies in the country.

And despite a Wednesday executive order that Trump said is designed to keep families together if they are detained, Cuomo predicted the number of kids separated from their parents being sent to New York will continue to grow. More arrived overnight Wednesday and Thursday morning, he said.

Frustrated by the lack of cooperation by the feds, Cuomo said he called and sent a letter to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar demanding the agency provide information and access to the children so the state can provide needed services. He said he has not heard back.

In his letter sent Thursday, Cuomo asked the feds for the specifics.

The estimated number of children being housed in New York has grown sharply in recent days.