Separated Immigrant Teenagers Being Forced To Take Psychotropic Drugs Without Consent, Court Documents Show

In one case, the facility staff told a teenager that she wouldn't be released until she was deemed psychologically sound as a way to get her to take the drugs. Under most states’ laws, before a child is medicated, a parent, guardian, or authority acting in the place of the parent must be consulted and give informed consent. But in these shelters, the children are alone.

ProPublica: Immigrant Shelters Drug Traumatized Teenagers Without Consent

Fleeing an abusive stepfather in El Salvador, Gabriela headed for Oakland, California, where her grandfather had promised to take her in. When the teenager reached the U.S. border in January 2017, she was brought to a federally funded shelter in Texas. Initially, staff described her as receptive and resilient. But as she was shuttled from one Texas shelter to another, she became increasingly depressed. Without consulting her grandfather, or her mother in El Salvador, shelter staff have prescribed numerous medications for her, including two psychotropic drugs whose labels warn of increased suicidal behavior in adolescents, according to court documents. Still languishing in a shelter after 18 months, the 17-year-old doesn’t want to take the medications, but she does anyway, because staff at one facility told her she wouldn’t be released until she is considered psychologically sound. (Chen and Ramirez, 7/20)

And in other news —

The Hill: 364 Children Reunited With Families After Being Separated At Border

The Trump administration said in a court filing Thursday that it has reunited 364 immigrant children between the ages of 5 and 17 that it identified as being separated from their parents at the border, one week before the deadline to complete the reunifications. The administration said last week that it had identified 2,551 immigrant children who had been separated from their families at the border. Officials said Thursday that they have identified 1,606 of the parents, and have interviewed and cleared 848 of them to be reunited with their children, according to the court filing. (Thomsen, 7/19)

Reveal: Contractor Clears Out Phoenix Office Where It Held Immigrant Children

Two Arizona lawmakers also called on the state to immediately investigate whether Virginia-based MVM Inc. is violating state law in keeping children in unlicensed office buildings, with one vowing to sponsor a new state law to halt the practice. MVM has a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to transport immigrant children to airports and shelters across the nation. (Branstetter, 7/19)

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