Shelters for migrant kids have had problems

Dozens of migrant children have been separated from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border and sent hundreds of miles to facilities in South Florida as part of the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance crackdown on illegal immigration.

Two of the places children are being kept — the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children and His House Children’s Home in Miami Gardens — have had child welfare issues in recent years, including cases of extortion and sex exploitation, according to a review by the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

As many as 174 children who were separated from their parents could be in Florida, according to figures released by U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson.

A third facility, Boys Town in Cutler Bay, hasn’t been briefed yet by the federal government on how any affected children in its care will be reunited with loved ones, said Mary Ross Agosta, a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Miami, the organization that administers the facility.

“It’s heartbreaking,” she said. “We would pray these children do not suffer from this trauma.”

Agosta said the 80-bed facility is “most likely” holding children separated from their families at the border, but she declined to provide specific numbers. Since 1958, the Archdiocese of Miami has sheltered immigrant children, including 14,000 Cuban youths who came to South Florida during the Operación Pedro Pan exodus in the early 1960s.

The Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children, the largest facility housing immigrant children in South Florida, is holding 1,179 children ages 13 to 17.

The government has a $31 million contract with Cape Canaveral-based Comprehensive Health Services to run the center. Program director Leslie Wood said the vast majority of the children came from Central America without relatives, but about 70 were separated from relatives at the border.

While Wood said children receive excellent care, court records raise questions about the facility’s hiring practices.

Franky Santos, a youth care worker at the facility, told a Miami judge this week he was hired to watch children at the shelter, despite having a felony marijuana charge on his record and being in drug court, according to a report by The Miami Herald.

Judge Jeri B. Cohen, who is overseeing Santos’ case, called his hiring “a disgrace” and urged him to quit. She said anyone with open criminal cases shouldn't be working there.

Less than a year ago, Merice Perez Colon, another youth care worker, pleaded guilty to swapping nude photos and video with a 15-year-old boy she met at the Homestead shelter. Court records show she met the boy at the facility in the summer of 2016 and struck up an online relationship with him later that year after he had been released and resettled in South Carolina.

She was sentenced to 10 years in a federal prison.

Gail Hart, a company spokeswoman, has declined to comment, referring questions to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A spokesman with Health and Human Services has not responded to questions about steps the agency has taken to protect children.

At the Homestead facility, up to 12 children per room sleep in bunk beds in dorm-style buildings. The children attend classes and watch movies in air-conditioned tents.

His House Children’s Home in Miami Gardens, a 232-bed facility, also is caring for children who have been separated from their parents at the border, said David Castrillon, development director.

That facility, too, has had employee issues. Leslie Rubero Padilla, a case manager at His House, pleaded guilty in 2015 to falsely telling the parents and guardians of immigrant children that they were required to send her money or the reunification process with their children would be delayed.

Padilla received payments ranging from $200 to $1,500 from families, racking up $12,000, according to court records. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

A subsequent government audit commissioned after that case found His House might not have properly followed policies for 652 children regarding sponsor background checks, prompt medical care, provision of appropriate clothing, sponsor placement decisions, post-release services and notification.

In its response, His House wrote that the facility was experiencing a surge of unaccompanied minor immigrants for the period reviewed from Oct. 1, 2013 to Sept. 30, 2014, likening it to “changing the tires on a moving school bus.”

The organization also wrote that lack of documentation doesn’t mean care or services weren’t provided.

Castrillon said children separated from their parents are receiving medical care, educational services and counseling.

“We are trying to create a sense of normalcy for them,” he said.