Detention center violence hits home in state

NORWALK — For many of the few hundred immigrant students who have enrolled in the city’s public schools in recent months, the journey here has been difficult and even dangerous.

The stories of poor conditions and violence near the U.S.Mexico border, including at detention centers, suddenly have a very real meaning in Norwalk after four underage girls have reported they were sexually assaulted on their way here.

According to school and city officials, four female students — each of whom spent time in Texas detention facilities — were raped before recently arriving in Norwalk. Citing HIPAA laws and to protect the identities of the girls, local officials declined to discuss any information they have gathered from the teens about the incidents.

It’s unclear whether the sexual assaults occurred in federal facilities or after the girls were released. It’s also unknown if the teens reported the incidents to anyone in Texas.

Their stories are indicative of a larger trend of violence against women and girls in detention centers, along the way to America and in countries like El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, the former homes of many of the Spanishspeaking students now enrolled in Nowalk schools.

“It is horrifyingly prevalent,” said Alicia Kinsman, director of immigration legal services at the Bridgeportbased nonprofit Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants (CIRI). “What we’re seeing is a large number of vulnerable populations, including women and children, having been sexually assaulted.”

Investigating the issue

More than 72,000 migrant children traveling alone and almost 458,000 families crossed the border illegally in the fiscal year ending in September — at times, overwhelming Border Patrol agents and the agency’s processing centers that are meant to only hold immigrants temporarily before they are moved elsewhere.

And, despite the reported surge in Norwalk, nationally those numbers have dropped significantly since President Donald Trump’s administration announced a new policy forcing most immigrants to wait in Mexican border towns for the duration of their U.S. asylum cases.

Children deemed unaccompanied, meaning they are not with a parent or guardian, are usually quickly transferred from Border Patrol custody to federal shelters overseen by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which hold the children until they can be released to relatives who have undergone a screening process.

The ORR could not immediately confirm the alleged assaults reported by the four minors in Norwalk.

At least eight nonprofits and private companies operate ORR facilities in Texas. Hearst Newspapers reached out to all of them to ask about allegations of sexual assault and all said they were investigating the report. But since there is little information identifying the girls or where they were detained, they said it would be difficult to ascertain. Customs and Border Protection officials have also said they were looking into the allegations.

One of the eight shelter operators in Texas, BCFS Health and Human Services, said it had received no allegations of sexual assault for unaccompanied children in its care in 2019. According to its website, BCFS is a global system of health and human services nonprofit organizations with locations and programs throughout the U.S. as well as Eastern Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa.

ORR policy requires that every girl older than 10 or every child who reports having had sex or been abused take pregnancy tests as part of the intake process. A BCFS spokeswoman said eight girls had positive pregnancy tests upon arrival at its shelters in 2019.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the ORR, said it could not comment on specific cases.

“HHS takes any and all allegations of sexual abuse with the utmost seriousness,” said Kenneth Wolfe, deputy director at the HHS’s Administration for Children and Families Office of Public Affairs. “The mechanisms in place to address sexual abuse allegations in facilities funded by HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement are robust and comprehensive.”

A U.S. Justice Department report released this year states the federal government has received more than 4,500 complaints over a fouryear period, including accusations of adult staff members abusing minors. Freedom for Immigrants, a California group working to abolish detention camps, claims those complaints are rarely investigated. The group found that between January 2010 and July 2016, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General investigated less than 1 percent of the more than 33,000 complaints of sexual assault or physical abuse against component agencies in DHS.

The violence immigrant women and girls face once they’ve arrived in America often comes after they have endured dangerous conditions in their home countries.

According to a 2015 study published by the United Nations Refugee Agency, called Women on the Run, El Salvador and Honduras had the highest average female homicide rates in the world during a fiveyear period ending in 2012. Guatemala had the fourth highest.

The longterm effects of such violence, Kinsman said, can be difficult to predict.

“Especially with children, we don’t always know how trauma like this is going to manifest,” she said. “A lot of this we’re talking about longterm, permanent effects on children and their potential for success. So many have suffered so many unimaginable things.”

Reporting the incidents

In Norwalk, the four girls reported the sexual assaults to the Norwalk Health Department when they were examined before being able to attend school.

Norwalk Health Director Deanna D’Amore said the department’s clinicians are required to report any such incidents. However, they were not reported to the Norwalk Police Department.

According to state law, licensed medical professionals and all school employees are required to report any alleged incidents of abuse, sexual abuse or neglect involving children to the state Department of Children and Families. DCF officials, citing confidentiality concerns, could not confirm if the allegations had been reported to the agency.

Ken Mysogland, the bureau chief of external affairs for DCF, said if the agency received such a report, the accusations would likely be forwarded to the Texas Department of Family and

Protective Services for further investigation.

“Let’s say somebody called us and said these four girls reported horrific things that happened to them in Texas, we would send that report to CPS (Child Protective Services) in Texas and they should then notify their local law enforcement agency. Or, because it’s a federal facility, maybe the FBI, to conduct a joint investigation with them there,” Mysogland said.

DCF officials in Connecticut would conduct interviews with the victims and other relevant people in the state as part of any such investigation, Mysogland said. They would also provide any followup services, such as counseling.

“It doesn’t matter where the trauma occurred, if you are here now, we will assist you if you come to our attention,” Mysogland said.

Aid from the state can be important in these cases, Kinsman said, because many immigrants are not eligible for federal benefits or health insurance.

“Many of them are struggling to find work that will pay enough to keep them and their families alive. So they feel like they can’t take the afternoon or day off to go see someone who might be available,” Kinsman said. Other barriers also exist. “For cultural or religious reasons, many immigrants aren’t comfortable seeking professional help,” Kinsman said. “If what they’re suffering is depression, anxiety, or a mental health struggle, some people are really resistant to asking for help and talking about what’s going on.”