Albany OK on oversight for border separations

ALBANY — Agencies housing children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border in New York could soon be required to provide the state with accurate reports on kids in their care or face the possibility of losing their license.

The state Senate passed a bill Thursday requiring child protective agencies to provide the state Office of Children and Family Services with accurate reports on the number of children brought to New York, how many are still in the state, what languages they speak and if have they been reunited with their parents.

“We’re standing up for these young kids and parents who want to escape a terror where they’re coming from and walk into a terror here,” bill sponsor Sen. Brian Benjamin (DHarlem) told the Daily News. “We want to make sure the facilities and agencies that are licensed in New York are required to provide us basic information.”

Last summer, at the height of controversy surrounding President Trump’s policy separating migrant children from their families at the southern border, it was revealed that about 300 undocumented immigrant children were sent to facilities in the city without the knowledge of local officials.

The East Harlem Cayuga Center, which last year received dozens of migrant children, supported the passage of the bill.

The legislation, which still needs to pass the Assembly, requires such agencies to report information about children sent to their facilities by the feds to the state every 15 days.

“If the Trump administration is saying no kids are coming over, then those numbers should reflect what they’re saying,” Benjamin said.

Assemblyman Harvey Epstein (DUpper East Side) said he’s hopeful that the bill will soon be passed in his chamber as well.

“I believe it is something that we can get done before the end of session,” he told The News.