Judicial Watch: New HHS Documents Reveal Sexual and Physical Abuse of Unaccompanied Minors

(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch announced today that it received 41 pages of documents from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) which list 33 separate incidences of alleged sexual abuse in a one-month time period. 

Judicial Watch forced the release of the documents through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed against Health and Human Services for:

All summaries from individual case files of reports of physical and/or sexual abuse or assault of Unaccompanied Alien Children under the care of HHS, its sub-agencies, and or VOLAGs [voluntary agency], contractors, grantees, and sub-grantees, to include all segregable, non-exempt information.

Records reflecting aggregated data of physical and/or sexual abuse and assault of UACs under the care of HHS, its sub-agencies, and or VOLAGs, contractors, grantees, and sub-grantees.

The records include a spreadsheet of data from the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement and lists 33 “sexual abuse allegations” involving “unaccompanied children” (UAC) for the time period of January 21, 2021, to February 26, 2021. These incidents seemed to be tied to “voluntary agencies” (VOLAGs), which are contractors for the federal government. Ten of the allegations of sexual abuse were made against staff and “non-staff” members. Twenty-one incidents of children sexually assaulting other children while in government contracted care facilities were reported.

No details were provided as to who the alleged attacker or victims were other than that they were UACs. Additionally, no incident reports were provided by HHS.

No. | Event ID | SA Type of Incident | SA Type of Allegation | Program Name
1   290249   Sexual Abuse Staff and UAC   Friends of Youth McEachern
2   290519   Sexual Abuse Staff and UAC   BCFS San Antonio Staff Secure
3   290969   Sexual Abuse UAC and Other   Bethany Christian Services TFC Michigan
4   291649   Sexual Abuse UAC and UAC   Lincoln Hall Boys Haven
5   292060   Sexual Abuse Staff and UAC   Mercy First RTC
6   292284   Sexual Abuse UAC and UAC   Abbott House TFC
7   292365   Sexual Abuse Non-Staff Adult and UAC   Bethany LIRS
8   294303   Sexual Abuse Non-Staff Adult and UAC   Cayuga Centers
9   294669   Sexual Abuse UAC and UAC   Sunny Glen Childrens Home New Day Resiliency Center
10  295225   Sexual Abuse UAC and UAC   Sunny Glen Childrens Home New Day Resiliency Center
11  296007   Sexual Abuse UC and UC   Southwest Key Casa Padre
12  296169   Sexual Abuse UC and UC   Sunny Glen Childrens Home New Day Resiliency Center
13  296641   Sexual Abuse UC and UC   Southwest Key Casa Padre
14  296810   Sexual Abuse UC and UC   Southwest Key El Presidente
15  297632   Sexual Abuse UC and UC   Southwest Key Casa Padre
16  298189   Sexual Abuse UC and UC   Heartland Inti Childrens RC
17  298428   Sexual Abuse UC and UC   Leake and Watts
18  298597   Sexual Abuse UC and UC   Sunny Glen Childrens Home New Day Resiliency Center
19  298743   Sexual Abuse UC and UC   CHS Stanford House
20  298928   Sexual Abuse UC and UC   His House
21  299067   Sexual Abuse UC and UC   Children First Residential Care TX Sunnyside
22  299640   Sexual Abuse Non-Staff Adult and UC   Southwest Key Rio Grande
23  299761   Sexual Abuse UC and UC   Mercy First RTC
24  300102   Sexual Abuse UC and UC   Friends of Youth Colin Ferguson
25  300290   Sexual Abuse UC and UC   Sunny Glen Childrens Home New Day Resiliency Center
26  300467   Sexual Abuse Non-Staff Adult and UC   Southwest Key El Presidente
27  300532   Sexual Abuse UC and UC   BCFS Raymondvill
28  300650   Sexual Abuse UC and UC   Southwest Key Cas a Houston
29  300706   Sexual Abuse Non-Staff Adult and UC   Southwest Key Casa Padre
30  300804   Sexual Abuse UC and UC   Children’s Home of Poughkeepsie- Nuevas Alas Program
31  300848   Sexual Abuse UC and Other   SWK Processing Center
32  301043   Sexual Abuse Non-Staff Adult and UC   Southwest Key Antigua
33  301253   Sexual Abuse Staff and UC   Cayuga Centers L TFC

On February 22, 2021, at the BCFS (Baptist Children and Family Services) shelter in Baytown, Texas, a UAC reported that another UAC, a 17-year-old boy from Guatemala, had been punched with a closed fist in his ribcage by his roommate while the victim was lying down. The victim of the alleged attack did not want to discuss it with shelter officials. The report notes “Minor was moved to another room to ensure other minor’s safety.” The follow up questions in the report: “Was the incident investigated?”; was it “Reported to CPS?”; and was it “Reported to Local Law Enforcement?” were all answered “No.” 

“These documents show that not only are there shocking reports of sexual abuse occurring in shelters for unaccompanied children, but that there is violence amongst the UACs themselves,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “It is no surprise that Biden administration’s enabling of human trafficking has resulted in violence and the abuse of children.”

On April 7, 2021, Fox News reported: “Gov. Greg Abbott demanded that the White House close a San Antonio facility housing migrant children Wednesday following allegations that children there were being sexually assaulted.” Additionally, “The governor said that separate complaints were sent to the Department of Health and Human Services and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services Wednesday, alleging four different kinds of child abuse.” 

It was recently confirmed that the Biden administration just this year alone “lost contact with thousands” of unaccompanied illegal immigrant children who had been released from federal custody.

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