AUSTIN, Texas _ A Guatemalan man is suing Austin-based Southwest Key Programs, the nation's largest provider of facilities for detaining migrant children, and another shelter, saying his son was held for nearly a year without justification, treated with psychotropic drugs without parental consent and sexually assaulted by another child at one of the facilities.
The man and his 10-year-old son were not identified in the lawsuit, which was filed in Travis County on Thursday. They are being represented by Austin-based attorneys John Judge and Jay Harvey and Laredo-based attorney Ricardo de Anda.
The lawsuit says the man and his son left Guatemala on Jan. 24, 2018, and traveled to the U.S. seeking asylum because of death threats made against them. In February, they were taken into custody and separated, the suit says. The man was deported to Guatemala in April 2018 and his son was held in Arizona at a facility run by Southwest Key Programs, the lawsuit says.
The boy was diagnosed with adjustment disorder and the Southwest Key staff recommended sending him to a smaller facility, the suit says. In late June, he was moved to Shiloh Treatment Center in Brazoria County in Texas, where he was prescribed medication to treat depression, anxiety and mental or mood disorders, the lawsuit says. The facility did not obtain parental consent before the boy started receiving the drugs, the suit says.
In a separate lawsuit last year, Shiloh Treatment Center was accused of forcibly injecting children with drugs.
The boy was supposed to stay at Shiloh Treatment Center for 30 days but was there for about six months, the lawsuit says. He turned 10 while at the Shiloh Treatment Center in early December.
"There's not justification for it," Judge said. "What has happened to this young man was just horrible. He was imprisoned for 11 months with no justification."
Judge said Shiloh Treatment Center was receiving between $700 and $1,200 a day from the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a federal department, for housing the boy, who "was viewed as an asset to Shiloh and its owners," the suit says.
Shiloh Treatment Center and Southwest Key Programs did not respond Monday to requests for comment.
The lawsuit also says the boy reported in December that he was sexually assaulted by another child in the facility.
"Despite his repeated requests to go home with his father and grandmother, there was no consideration of discharge," the lawsuit says. "After the sexual assault was reported, however, he was viewed as a potential liability, and quickly deported on or about December 14, 2018."
The boy and his dad are currently in Guatemala, Judge said.
The suit alleges that Southwest Key Programs and Shiloh Treatment Center acted recklessly and caused physical and emotional harm to the boy, among other claims. The family is seeking a jury trial.
Former Southwest Key Programs CEO Juan Sanchez, who announced his retirement earlier this month amid outcry over the nonprofit's role in detaining migrant children, was also named in the lawsuit.
Immigrant family separations at the border spiked last year under the Trump administration's zero tolerance policy, which called for criminal charges against anyone crossing the border illegally. Nearly 3,000 immigrant children were placed in separate shelters while their parents were referred for prosecution.
