Private Companies at Texas Youth Shelters Paid $1.5B Since 2014

Private companies operating immigrant youth shelters in Texas have been paid more than $1.5 billion since 2014 – despite the fact that some have been accused of neglect, and even sexual and physical abuse, an investigation has found.

The probe, by The Texas Tribune newspaper and The Center for Investigative Reporting, also discovered that in nearly every case, the federal government has kept migrant kids in these facilities despite the complaints.

And they are housing some of the more than 2,000 children who in the past few weeks have been taken away from their parents as they illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border under President Donald Trump’s zero-tolerance immigration policy.

The investigation found that state inspectors have cited the homes in question with more than 400 deficiencies, about one-third of them serious.

Among the allegations are: failure to seek medical attention for children, giving a child the wrong medicine despite a warning on her medical bracelet and reports of "inappropriate contact" between children and staff, including a case in which a staff member gave kids a porn magazine.

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