Judge stops psychotropic drugs for migrant children without consent
A federal judge on Monday found that U.S. government officials have been giving psychotropic medication to migrant children at a Texas facility without first seeking the consent of their parents or guardians, in violation of state child welfare laws.
U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee in Los Angeles ordered the Trump administration to obtain consent or a court order before administering any psychotropic medications to migrant children, except in cases of dire emergencies. It also ordered that the government move all children out of the Texas facility, Shiloh Residential Treatment Center in Manvel, except for children deemed by a licensed professional to pose a “risk of harm” to themselves or others.
Staff members at Shiloh admitted to signing off on medications in lieu of a parent, relative or legal guardian, according to Gee’s ruling. Government officials defended this practice, saying they provided these drugs only on “an emergency basis” when a child’s “extreme psychiatric symptoms” became dangerous.
The judge didn’t buy this explanation, pointing to testimony from children who said they were given pills “every morning and every night.” Officials “could not have possibly” administered medications to children on an emergency basis every day, Gee wrote.
The Shiloh Residential Treatment Center, the judge ruled, violated a long-standing settlement that set strict standards for detaining immigrant children.
The judge ordered Shiloh to stop using any unessential security measures, such as denying children drinking water.
Numerous sworn testimonies in court affidavits indicated that children at Shiloh were regularly given psychotropic medication without the proper parental consent. Sometimes they were told these were vitamins, and recalled feeling drowsy or dizzy after taking the medication. Other children recalled being held down and forcibly injected with drugs.