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Democrats in the House held a press conference Monday before the vote to try to overturn President Donald Trump's statement of a national emergency on the US-Mexico border. (February 25)
AP
Thousands of migrant children who crossed the southern border into the United States claimed to have been sexually assaulted while they were in government custody, according to documents from the Ministry of Health and Human Rights. Social Services published Tuesday by the office of the representative Ted Deutch.
In the last four years, 4,556 children reported being sexually assaulted while being cared for by the Refugee Resettlement Office of Health and Human Services, which provides care for unaccompanied minors traveling alone. the southern border and those who are separated from their families.
The allegations date back to 2015, which means that reported assaults would have started under the Obama administration. But allegations have proliferated in the last two years after the Trump government's "zero tolerance" policy, which has led at least 2,800 separated families to flood the department with new children.
The data shows that the majority of the alleged assaults were perpetrated by other juveniles in detention, but at least 178 by the staff.
"These documents describe in detail an environment of systemic sexual assaults perpetrated by staff on unaccompanied children," said Deutch, a Florida Democrat, at a meeting of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee. Tuesday. "These documents tell us that there is a problem with adults, HHS employees, who sexually abuse children."
Representative Ted Deutch, D-Fla., Speaks at a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee in the Rayburn House office building at Capitol Hill on February 8, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Alex Wong, Getty Images)
Cdr. Jonathan White, who oversaw the care of migrant children for health and social services, reacted angrily to the congressman, indicating that government officials in his department had never been accused of "neglecting". such a crime.
"This is not the staff of HHS in any of these allegations," White said.
Instead, the ministry contracts with more than 100 local shelters that house and guard children. These facilities are inspected by state child protection officers and criminal proceedings can be brought against employees by state or federal prosecutors.
When a sexual assault is reported to Health and Human Services, White said, she is under investigation for further investigation and those deemed legitimate are referred to the Department of Justice.
Data provided by the Deutch office shows that of the 4,556 complaints that Health and Social Services investigated, 1,303 or 29% were sent to the Department of Justice for further review. White said that the vast majority of these cases were unfounded later.
"Whenever a child is abused by the refugee resettlement office, that's one time too much," White said.
The data was included in a large package of documents provided to the Judiciary Committee on the eve of Tuesday's hearing. At the beginning of the hearing, President Jerry Nadler, DN.Y., S complained of last-minute filing of documents, arguing that it had taken six weeks for the administration to answer his questions.
"The Department of Justice and the US Department of Homeland Security have until last night blocked the legitimate demand for information from this committee," Nadler said. "It's absolutely inexcusable."
The House oversight and reform committee took a further step on Tuesday, issuing the first subpoenas against the Trump administration after failing to receive responses on separate migrant families that were first laid in July. The subpoenas were addressed to Attorney General William Bar, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, and Secretary of Health and Social Services Alex Azar.
"When our own government tears vulnerable children, toddlers and even infants from the arms of their mothers and fathers without any plan to reunite them, it is a case of child abuse. sponsored by the government, "said commission chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md. "It is our job to intervene and protect these children.An additional time is not an option."
Tuesday's hearing was the second time House Democrats polled the administration on family separations. On February 7, House Energy and Commerce interviewed health and social services officials about last summer's family separations and the separations that continue to occur when Homeland Security officials decide that migrant parents endanger their children.
US District Judge Dana Sabraw is also considering a request by the American Civil Liberties Union to significantly increase the number of separated migrant families that the government needs to identify and possibly reunite. In June, Sabraw ordered the administration to reunite more than 2,800 separated families at the time. But the media and an internal government oversight body have revealed that the government systematically separates families for a full year before formally announcing its zero tolerance policy, which could result in thousands of additional separations.
The ACLU said the government should consider all these families. Sabraw is expected to decide on this request in the coming days.
The US Department of Homeland Security is also struggling with a series of deaths in custody. Three migrants have died after crossing the border since December, and a Honduran woman gave birth to a stillborn baby in an immigration detention center in Texas on 21 February.
Families at the border: Despite the ban, the separation of migrant families at the border continues in some cases
Death in the custody of the government: A Honduran migrant gives birth to a stillborn baby while he was under the care of the ICE in Texas
Read or share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/02/26/thousands-migrant-children-report-sexual-assaults-us-custody-border-detain/2988884002/
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