Q&A
Federal policy changes affecting unaccompanied minors and NYC's response
1:31:37
·
5 min
Council Member Alexa Avilés questioned MOIA representatives about federal policy changes affecting unaccompanied minors and NYC's response. Key points included:
- MOIA tracks federal policy developments through a senior policy adviser and works with national partners to understand emerging needs.
- MOIA provides cross-agency updates on federal policy developments and works to allocate resources where needed.
- The Action NYC in Schools program was pivoted to conduct immigration legal screenings in RHY shelters for youth aged 18 to 20.
- MOIA uses predictive information to request or identify the need for additional resources.
- There was some confusion about MOIA's response to projected increases in unaccompanied minors.
- MOIA has not directly engaged with the Office of Refugee Resettlement, but has processed a request related to IDNYC enrollment for unaccompanied minors.
Alexa Avilés
1:31:37
Alright.
1:31:37
I think we're gonna probably dive into many of the failures that this story elucidated and also that were reflected in much of the represent the testimony of many of the advocates before, but we'll move on to zoom out.
1:31:54
Just a quick second.
1:31:56
This question is for Moia.
1:31:57
We could start.
1:31:58
In June, the Biden administration issued a presidential proclamation to temporarily suspend the entry of non citizens across the southern border during periods of high encounter.
1:32:10
Unaccompanied children, however, were exempted from that proclamation.
1:32:14
Advocates therefore expected the numbers of unaccompanied children crossing the border to increase as parents were faced with an impossible choice to send their children to the US alone in search of safety.
1:32:27
How has Moya, if at all, track these developments and start to account for a potential of unanticipated increases and unaccompanied youth who may be traveling to New York City.
Tom Tortorici
1:32:42
Thank you for your question.
1:32:44
Moya's policy team has a federal senior policy adviser who closely tracks legislative and administrative developments in the federal government across various agencies responsible for the identification and care of unaccompanied minors as well as predicting future trends and increasing numbers in that population and others.
1:33:10
We work closely with national partners also thought leaders in the field, many of whom work with and are part of eye care in order to best understand the emerging and evolving needs of the population.
1:33:25
And we provide cross agency updates on federal policy developments.
1:33:31
We wouldn't do so in the event or in the circumstance of a of a prediction.
1:33:38
However, we do have internal conversations and work with our agency partners to ensure that resources are allocated where they need to be allocated to the extent possible to serve a population.
1:33:52
One example of that is the pivot of the action on 1 c in schools program to conduct immigration legal screenings and RHI shelters for those youth aged 18 to 20.
1:34:04
So that they don't age out of special immigrant juvenile status.
Alexa Avilés
1:34:10
I think I'm a little confused by your answer.
1:34:12
I think you mentioned you wouldn't necessarily respond to projected increases, but you're responding to actualities on the ground.
1:34:23
Is that what you just said?
Tom Tortorici
1:34:25
No.
1:34:25
We would we would track predictive increases, but we wouldn't necessarily provide a policy update to
Alexa Avilés
1:34:33
For funding or programs or anything?
Tom Tortorici
1:34:36
No.
1:34:36
We would use that information to request or identify the need for additional resources.
Alexa Avilés
1:34:44
So in this circumstance, given the track, and the expectations, and we saw that materially actually happen where we had huge numbers of unaccompanied youth.
1:34:58
Was Moya's response to Pivot the action NYC, were there other places where Maya sought to address this issue?
Tom Tortorici
1:35:06
The pivot of action NYC in schools to provide immigration legal services and the RHI shelters and drop insights was a concrete action that we can point to using existing resources to serve the needs of the population, can't speak to internal conversations related to resource allocation, can say that we engage with external partners, including and especially eye care and its membership to understand the trends, the needs, and take them back internally.
1:35:40
For our internal discussions about resources.
Alexa Avilés
1:35:43
So has Moya been engaging with the office of refugee resettlement as well?
Tom Tortorici
1:35:51
To my knowledge, Moya has not.
1:35:53
Moya did receive a request from US Health And Human Services to add a VOR card, which is a form of identification provided to unaccompanied minors to the list of qualifying documents for IDNYC Enrollment.
1:36:10
And Moya did process that request, then it currently sits with IDMIC.
Alexa Avilés
1:36:15
But there hasn't been Moya hasn't engaged in any advocacy or conversations with or about the increases of unaccompanied minors in the city and potential needs?
Tom Tortorici
1:36:26
I can get back to with respect to specific meetings or conversations.
1:36:31
I don't have I'm not aware of any initially.
1:36:35
I do know that there are general engagement sessions with various offices and agencies in the federal government.
1:36:44
However, I'm not currently aware of any specific conversations with ORR, but we will get back to you.
Alexa Avilés
1:36:49
Great.