Women’s Group Reacts to New Report Claiming Thousands of Migrant Youth Were Sexually Assaulted While in US Custody
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 27, 2019
CONTACT: Brett Abrams | brett@unbendablemedia.com | (516) 841-1105
Women’s Group Reacts to New Report Claiming Thousands of Migrant Youth Were Sexually Assaulted While in US Custody
UltraViolet Says Detention Centers Must Be Shut Down; Detaining Children is Wrong and the US Government Isn’t Equipped to Provide for Their Safety and Well-Being
Washington, D.C. — Yesterday, Axios reported on new documents revealing that over 5,800 complaints of sexual abuse from unaccompanied minors were reported to the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice over the course of four years, including allegations of staff-on-minor abuse.
Shaunna Thomas, Executive Director of the leading national women’s group, UltraViolet, issued the following statement in response:
“The thousands of allegations by minors in DHS custody are nothing short of sickening and infuriating. They clearly represent the rampant systemic abuse within our inhumane immigration detention centers.
“Detaining asylum-seekers and their children and separating children from their parents were never acceptable – and the fact that our government officials continually fail to provide for the safety and well-being of the children forced into their custody is a national disgrace. The U.S. government has freely allowed systemic abuse within our detention centers – and every American should be outraged at this disgusting failure.
“It is clear that the policy of family separation and detention is cruel and wrong. We must close down these detention centers, reunite children with their parents, and put an end to policies that enable this horrific abuse in the first place. Children and families seeking asylum have been through enough.”
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