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Q&A

Interagency coordination on unaccompanied minors issues

1:36:49

·

160 sec

Council Member Alexa Avilés questioned MOIA representatives about interagency coordination on unaccompanied minors issues, focusing on past and current task forces. Key points included:

The specific 2014 task force on unaccompanied minors no longer continues, but there are multiple working groups across agencies that deal with related issues.
Current working groups include the human trafficking youth prevention working group, citywide response to human trafficking, FGMC Advisory committees, and the Migrant Public Safety Steering Committee.
MOIA representatives were unsure about the specific status of the 2014 task force and needed to follow up with more information.
There was concern expressed about the lack of a focused interagency effort on unaccompanied minors, given the doubling of numbers since 2014.
MOIA suggested that resources for unaccompanied minors are now more widely available, potentially reducing the need for a specific task force.
The council member emphasized the need for increased funding, coordination, and focused attention on this issue.

Alexa Avilés

1:36:49

Great.

1:36:49

Thank you.

1:36:50

In terms of in 2014, Moya had convened a task force on this issue of the rising number of accompanied unaccompanied minors in the US and New York City.

1:37:00

Obviously, an issue, very relevant today, in fact, much larger than 2014, is Moia still coordinating this interagency task force?

Tom Tortorici

1:37:15

That specific task force does continue.

1:37:21

So there are a number of task force is within the city that in which issues related to unaccompanied minors are discussed, best practices shared, resources shared, and strategies discussed, The human trafficking youth prevention working group is 1.

1:37:47

There are multiple working groups across agencies that deal with issues that touch the population.

1:37:54

City wide response to human trafficking, convenings, FGMC Advisory committees, the Migrant Public Safety Steering Committee, and domestic violence and child welfare working group.

1:38:06

And I believe that that Child welfare working group is where these issues are most directly discussed.

Alexa Avilés

1:38:13

But the specific interagency task force on unaccompanied minors is still meeting.

Tom Tortorici

1:38:21

No.

1:38:22

I'll have to get back to you on that.

1:38:23

I don't have that specific information.

Alexa Avilés

1:38:25

Okay.

1:38:27

Is there is there a reason why this doesn't have its own function and focus when the numbers would double what they were in 2014?

Tom Tortorici

1:38:39

My understanding is that in 2014, the agency, Moia, together with its sister agencies, created that task for specifically to ensure that immigrant youth identified at New York Immigration Court specifically because that was a venue in which they could be identified, would be connected with healthcare insurance and other resources.

1:39:00

My understanding generally, and I cannot speak to specifics here, but is that the resources that are available to unaccompanied minors in all immigrant New Yorkers are broadly available and that the specific identification of unaccompanied minors or immigrant youth in immigration court is not happening in part because the resources are so widely available or at least information about the resources available.

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Federal policy changes affecting unaccompanied minors and NYC's response

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Past initiatives for screening and supporting immigrant youth in immigration court