A social services nonprofit is slated to operate a federally-funded home in University Heights that’ll house unaccompanied children found illegally crossing the US-Mexico border, the Norwood News has learned. The move caught every elected official representing the neighborhood by surprise.

In a letter intended for Community Board 7, but initially sent to neighboring Community Board 5, Catholic Guardian Services (CGS) will look after a maximum of 24 kids aged 12 to 17 at a residential three-family home at a sleepy section of University Heights. The letter does not indicate when the children will be placed.

Such an announcement is rare for CGS. The group, which routinely places children in the foster care system and much like social service firms contracted by the federal government, is not obligated to alert anyone of its intent to operate a home. For this particular home, no elected official representing the district overlapping with the home knew anything about it.

Currently, there is also no written policy for elected officials on the federal level to be apprised of the opening of these homes, repeating a practice last year when more than 200 children separated from their families at the US-Mexico border were shuttled to New York City. Local elected officials at the time knew nothing about it. While it’s unclear what the daily activities will be for the children, existing policies show they will receive round-the-clock supervision and home school education, as mandated by the federal government.

In the past, social service groups have come before CB7’s Housing, Land Use, and Zoning Committee, said Jean Hill, chair of CB7 who once led the committee. Without mandated notification of this type of home, there are plenty of unanswered questions for Hill.

“Yes, we live in a multi-language community, but even so, you’re just a stranger person coming from a whole other state being dropped off in New York and the Bronx. Really? And nobody says anything, and you don’t even notify the community because you’re the federal government and you could do what you want?” said Hill. “We want to know these children are taken care of. Do they have communication with their family? I mean, how does [their] system work? Are you feeding them, clothing them, taking care of them, making sure they’re getting medical coverage? Because I watch the news like everybody else and I see some of these children have died in some of these facilities. That’s not good.”

The only work permit filed through the city Department of Buildings was for the installation of a sprinkler system.

CGS, an offshoot of the New York Archdiocese of New York which spent $7.1 million from June 2017 to June 2018 housing unaccompanied children, receives funding through the federal government’s Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) Program, established in 2002 by the Bush administration that mandates children unaccompanied by families or guardians illegally crossing the border be under the care of the federal government. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services contracts with social service nonprofits to look after the children.

“The program will provide a safe and nurturing home during their transition to reunification with family or foster care system,” Harry T. Bavaro, assistant executive director of CGS, wrote to the board in his May 30 letter.

CGS wasn’t required to send a letter to CB7 detailing its plans for the home, but did so as a courtesy. These types of projects are not required to be presented to the board for any advisory recommendations nor has the group ever alerted elected officials of its plans, unlike the city, which is legally mandated to alert the community and its elected officials of any upcoming projects. This includes homeless shelters, albeit with very short notice.

The news, once again, spotlights a program that received intense media scrutiny last year after President Donald Trump, through an executive order, separated undocumented children from their families and sent to these homes, scattering the children across the country and drawing derision from Democrats and Republicans. Mr. Trump has since rescinded his executive order, though the program, operating 168 facilities across 23 states, remains in effect. Children typically stay an average of two months before being placed with family members in the U.S. as they await their hearing in Immigration court in Lower Manhattan.

Local elected officials who have been critical of Mr. Trump’s immigration policies, were not alerted of the home.

State Sen. Gustavo Rivera, whose 33rd Senate District represents University Heights, said he did not know about the home but questions whether the children are designated “unaccompanied” or actually separated from their families.

“From the start, I have been skeptical of the veracity of the information, or lack thereof, provided by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) about the UAC program,” said Rivera in a statement. “That’s why my colleagues and I proudly voted in favor of Senator Brian Benjamin’s SCAR Act which would allow our State to accurately account for these children and help reunite them with their families.”

Rivera’s colleague, Assemblyman Victor Pichardo, who also represents University Heights, was surprised by the news.

“I was not made aware of the opening of this house by the Unaccompanied Alien Children Program, by either the federal government, or any other agencies,” said Pichardo, who chairs the Task Force on New Americans. “It is deeply disturbing that the federal government continues to create more victims in the name of our nation.”

Councilman Fernando Cabrera wasn’t told about the move either, calling on the federal government “to make every effort to connect these kids with family members in the United States.”

“We need to make sure that these children receive all the help and support they need–counseling, education, social services, medical care and the love, attention and guidance of caring adults in our community,” he said.

Congressman José Serrano, who also represents the district, said he was unaware of facility but has assured he will be following up “and ask Health and Human Services for more information on their new facility and operations in the Bronx.”

CGS operates other homes in the Bronx, though it’s unclear how many. Last year, at the height of the crisis that drew massive media attention, CGS and another social services nonprofit, Lutheran Social Services, were one of the groups which took in children following Mr. Trump’s family separation policy. At that time, Bronx elected officials were stonewalled on the whereabouts of the migrant children, many housed in the borough, creating confusion.

Bavaro, the assistant executive director of CGS who wrote the letter to CB7, was at the home when the Norwood News visited, and referred all questions to CGS’ executive director, Craig Longley. His office did not return a message from the Norwood News as of press time.