Over 4,500 sex abuse complaints at US migrant children shelters

The US health department has reportedly received more than 4,500 complaints against sexual abuse of migrant children detained in US custody between 2014 and 2018.

The revelation was made on Tuesday by US Congressman Ted Deutch during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on President Donald Trump administration's policy of family separations at the border.

Deutch said the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a part of Health and Human Services (HHS), had received 4,556 complaints against sexual abuse and harassment of unaccompanied migrant children in government-funded shelters from October 2014 to July 2018.

The Department of Justice had also received an additional 1,303 complaints, including 178 allegations of sexual abuse by adult staff.

The cases included allegations of inappropriate touching, staff members allegedly watching minors while they bathed and showing indecent videos to minors.

“These documents detail an environment of systemic sexual assaults by staff on unaccompanied children,” Deutch said.

“Over the past three years, there have been 154 staff-on-unaccompanied minor, let me repeat that, staff-on-unaccompanied minor allegations of sexual assault. This works out on average to one sexual assault by HHS staff on unaccompanied minor per week," he added.

The Trump administration’s policy of “zero tolerance” in May last year resulted in thousands of children being separated from their parents at the southern border and placed into HHS custody.

Read more:

• Nearly 1,800 families separated at US-Mexico border: Report

The controversial policy, which called for the criminal prosecution of all adult migrants who were detained after illegally crossing the southern US border, created a massive outcry and the backlash forced Washington to walk it back just three months later.

The United Nations, immigration and child advocates and Democratic lawmakers have all condemned the practice of separating families at the border.

The bulk of the separations involved Central Americans, who make up the majority of families crossing the southwest border.

Trump administration to be subpoenaed

Following the Tuesday hearing, the House Oversight and Reform Committee voted to subpoena the Trump administration over documents related to the policy of separating children from families at the southern border.

Chairman Elijah Cummings said the committee has for the past seven months been asking the departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services (HHS) for information regarding the case.

“I did not make this decision lightly,” Cummings said. “I believe it is a true national emergency when our own government rips vulnerable children from the arms of their mothers and fathers with no plans to reunite them. That is government-sponsored child abuse.”

According to Cummings, the committee has been asking for details on the children separated, the location of their detention, the name of the facility and details on the parents including whether they were deported as well as information on efforts to reunite children and parents.

The White House defended the "zero tolerance" policy last year, saying it was protecting children and making clear that illegal border crossers would be prosecuted regardless of their family circumstances.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said the Trump administration was using allegations of fraud and security concerns to justify a policy that was actually aimed not at protecting children but at deterring future border crossers.

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