Hundreds of migrant teenagers have traveled solo to New York City since last July, leaving shelters and volunteers scrambling to help while mixed reactions are coming from city officials about what to do with them.
Some of the teens arriving at the Port Authority Bus Terminal alone are as young as 14 years old, arriving as part of the tens of thousands of migrants from the U.S. southern border in the city, reports Gothamist.
Aid worker Power Malu, who has been meeting immigrants as they arrive at the city's airports and bus stations, said his group, Artists Athletes Activists, has been using a volunteers network, with people agreeing to allow teens to live in their apartments because there has not been a coordinated response from city leaders.
The city has limited information about how many children or young adults need shelter, and Malu said that most of the teens who came alone have not had contact with immigration authorities.
A spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams did not respond to questions about the city's estimates on teen migrants, who are arriving at a time when resources for homeless young people are dwindling.
City officials have banned teens from resting at youth drop-in centers, a decision Susan Haskell, the deputy commissioner of the Department of Youth and Community Development, defended this week at a City Council meeting, even though the ban is leaving minors to sleep in doorways around the city.
Haskell late last year, during another council meeting, encouraged lawmakers and advocacy groups to call her when they encounter young migrants, but Jamie Powlovich, executive director of the Coalition for Homeless Youth, which represents shelter providers, said she called her and didn't get an answer after an aid group told her that two teens were coming into the Port Authority Bus Terminal in January.
Powlovich said she emailed Haskell and other administrators from DYCD and was told in an email from Tracey Thorne, DYCD's runaway and homeless youth services director, that detailed information was needed from the city's Administration for Children Serves and from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which Powlovich wouldn't provide.
Gothamist has requested communication between DYCD, ACS, and ICE under the Freedom of Information Law, but the responses were delayed until at least late May, and a spokesperson for City Hall denied sharing information about teen migrants with ICE.
Powlovich said the emails show a lack of clarity on how to deal with unaccompanied minors, and that her organization has been requesting clarification from the city since last August.
"The city's demonstrated inability to coordinate services and support for these young people is concerning and causing additional harm," she said.
Malu, meanwhile, said many teens are afraid to approach agencies or groups for help after arriving in New York City, particularly if there are police officers nearby, and that some have been able to find work in exchange for a place to sleep.
Malu said he has been able to reunite 40-50 teens with their extended families after they were sent to New York City from places like Florida or Arizona.
"No one is really stepping up saying that they have a solution," said Malu. "We have to be able to avoid the politics and bureaucracy and just try to help [the youth] because otherwise, they'll end up in a detention center."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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