The Arizona Republic surveillance videos show how badly migrant children are being treated.
The video shows the employees pushing, slapping and dragging the migrant children at the Since-Shuttered Shelter which is managed by the Southwest Key Programs embattled shelter provider.
SURVEILLANCE VIDEOS
In one of the videos, a young boy is seen being pulled by a male staffer and then pushing him against a wall and slapping him at the Hacienda Del Sol shelter, Youngtown, Arizona.
The child immediately stroked back and the employee retreated and left the room.
Another video shows a child being dragged into a room by a female employee. An other employee is pulling and dragging a child across the floor in the same video.
The Arizona Department of Health Services released the videos under the state public records law. In order to protect the identity of the children, the department blurred the clips.
The incidents were reported by the Southwest Key to the federal officials, local law enforcement and state authorities. The incidents occurred during mid-September.
ACTION BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
In early October, the federal government shuttered the shelter. It was decided by the Office of Refugee Resettlement took the decision of suspended operations at Hacienda Del Sol due to unspecified incident, as reported by the Southwest Key.
The decision was supported by the shelter operators and the staff at the shelter homes is being retrained. It is not clear yet if the shelter’s suspension is directly linked to the surveillance videos encounters.
In October, it was reported that the suspension of facility was the result of abuse of children by the staffers. There was no further elaboration on the surveillance videos.
According to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, the restraint techniques and physical force used do not amount to any criminal charges.
Source: Huffington Post, Geo Post 247
