The U.S. government continues to house migrant children in private facilities that have a history of facing disturbing allegations of sexual and physical abuse, as well as neglect and poor medical supervision, The Texas Tribune has learned. The children housed in such facilities include the thousands of minors who have been separated from their parents at the border under the Trump administration's new "zero tolerance" policy.
At a Southwest Key Programs facility in San Benito, Texas, inspectors found some 246 violations, including an employee who showed up to work drunk, and shampoo dispensers filled with hand sanitizer; the same company operates a converted Walmart in Brownsville that holds more than 1,000 children. Another shelter, the Shiloh Treatment Center, has been awarded $26 million from the Office of Refugee Resettlement since 2013, although Maribel Bernardez claims it administered psychotropic drugs to her 9-year-old son without her consent and despite her protests. At a temporary facility in Florida, an employee asked a 15-year-old boy for a pornographic video of himself; although that specific shelter was shut down in 2017, it reopened in February, being awarded $30 million after its population doubled to 1,000 children.
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