Internal documents reveal despair and tedium in one of the nation’s largest shelter networks for unaccompanied minors.
by Melissa Sanchez, Duaa Eldeib and Jodi S. Cohen
This story was co-published with Mother Jones.
One 16-year-old from Guatemala said he wanted to “quitarme la
vida,” or “take my life away,” as he waited to be released from a
Chicago shelter for immigrant children. He was kept there for at least
584 days.
A 17-year-old from Guinea went on a hunger strike, telling staff
members he refused to eat until he saw evidence they were trying to find
him a home. He was released nearly nine months after he entered a
shelter.
And a 10-month-old boy, forcibly separated from his father at the
U.S.-Mexico border in March, was bitten repeatedly by an older child and
later hospitalized after falling from a highchair. He was detained for
five months.
ProPublica Illinois has obtained thousands of confidential records
about the nine federally funded shelters in the Chicago area for
immigrant youth operated by the nonprofit Heartland Human Care Services —
some dating back years, others from as recently as last week.
The documents provide a sweeping overview of the inner workings and
life inside one of the country’s largest shelter networks for
unaccompanied minors, including children separated from their parents
under the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy.
Click here for the full article.
Source: ProPublica
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