Government could hold migrant families indefinitely in unlicensed detention centers under new plan
Leah Chavla, policy adviser at the Women’s Refugee Commission, said the proposed regulations are concerning because the government has violated the Flores agreement before. Over the summer, for instance, Shiloh Treatment Center near Houston came under scrutiny for injecting immigrant children in its care with powerful psychiatric drugs without proper consent. A federal judge ordered the government in July to stop the practice, though attorneys allege it’s still continuing.
“They’re saying, ‘Trust me, trust us, we’re going to self-regulate,’ ” Chavla said. “It’s just expecting everybody to place blind trust on them, and I don’t think that’s warranted.”