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New York mayor says Trump admin sent migrant children to NYC without telling him

Click to play video: 'Solidarity protest held at LaGuardia airport as migrant children to be held at New York facility'
Solidarity protest held at LaGuardia airport as migrant children to be held at New York facility
WATCH: Solidarity protest held at LaGuardia airport as migrant children to be held at New York facility – Jun 21, 2018

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says the Trump administration housed hundreds of migrant children in New York City without his knowledge.

Some 350 migrant children who were separated from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border were sent to Cayuga Centers, an immigration foster facility in New York City’s Harlem neighbourhood, De Blasio told CNN.

WATCH: NYC mayor visits facility holding 239 children separated from their families at border

Click to play video: 'NYC mayor visits facility holding 239 children separated from their families at border'
NYC mayor visits facility holding 239 children separated from their families at border

He said 239 children remain at the facility, and some of them have bed bugs, lice and contagious diseases like chicken pox.

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READ MORE: Documents say immigrant children beaten, stripped, placed in solitary confinement at U.S. detention centre

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“How is it possible that none of us knew there were 239 kids right here in our own city?” said de Blasio, a Democrat. “How is the federal government holding back that information from the people of this city?”

For its part, Cayuga Centers says it receives funding from the Office of Refugee Resettlement to offer short-term beds for unaccompanied migrant children and place them in Spanish-speaking foster homes until they can be reunited with family or returned to their country of origin.

WATCH: Trump praises child immigrant detention facilities

Click to play video: '‘They’re really running them well’: Trump praises child immigrant detention facilities'
‘They’re really running them well’: Trump praises child immigrant detention facilities

Lawmakers in several other states also protested the Trump administration’s policy of separating immigrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border.

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Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson said California, Iowa, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon and Pennsylvania would join a lawsuit against the Trump administration,.

“Children belong with their families, not alone and fearful in metal cages,” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a written statement. “We are filing this lawsuit because ripping children from their parents is unlawful, wrong and heartless.”

— With files from The Associated Press

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