In New York City, children who were separated from their families were brought to a Manhattan foster care organization in the dead of night early Wednesday morning. Video broadcast by the local news channel Spectrum News NY1 shows five girls being ushered into a foster care facility in East Harlem run by Cayuga Centers just before 1 a.m. An hour later, several girls were filmed leaving the facility with their heads covered as they were ushered into a car. The video prompted outrage from New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who questioned how the federal government could be holding separated children without telling city officials.
Mayor Bill de Blasio: “Our message to the federal government is simple: Stop this right now. Stop this broken, inhumane policy right now. And come clean with the truth. Who are these children? How many are they? Where are they? What is happening here? How is it possible that none of us knew there were 239 kids right here in our own city? How is the federal government holding back that information from the people of this city?”