Chicago Detention Facility Under Investigation Following Allegations of Abuse of Migrant Children

By Morgan Gstalter, The Hill

22 July 18

n Illinois shelter housing migrant children separated from their parents at the southern border is under federal investigation for allegations of child abuse.

The Casa Guadalupe shelter in the Chicago suburbs told The Washington Post on Friday that the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services have each launched investigations. 

A Guatemalan immigrant filed a lawsuit from Miami Monday saying her 11-year-old son was harassed by an older boy and injured in the shelter, the Post reported.

The Post reported multiple children reported having to scrub toilets with their bare hands or being denied medical treatment after breaking an arm.

Two young Brazilian boys also told the Post they had seen a shelter employee repeatedly give injections to a 5-year-old from Guatemala, allegedly in order to make him sleepy.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) called for an investigation on Tuesday.

“I am distressed at the allegations made by children in The Washington Post article,” Durbin wrote in a letter to nonprofit Heartland Alliance, which runs the shelter.

Durbin demanded to know “what steps Heartland will take to hold the alleged perpetrators accountable, and how Heartland will work to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again.”

The nonprofit responded by saying it would “welcome” the outside investigation and said it is performing its own internal investigation.

“The safety of children under our care is our foremost concern,” spokeswoman Barbara Hoffman said in a statement. 

More than 2,500 children were separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border after President Trump’s Justice Department implemented a “zero tolerance” immigration policy to prosecute illegal border crossings.

Trump signed an executive order to end the practice, but some families still remain separated.