WASHINGTON (AP) - Immigrant children as young as 14 housed at a juvenile detention center in Virginia say they were beaten while handcuffed and locked up for long periods in solitary confinement, left nude and shivering in concrete cells.
The abuse claims against the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center near Staunton, Virginia, are detailed in federal court filings that include a half-dozen sworn statements from Latino teens jailed there for months or years. Multiple detainees say the guards stripped them of their clothes and strapped them to chairs with bags placed over their heads.
A former child-development specialist who worked there tells The Associated Press she saw kids with bruises and broken bones. She's not authorized to publicly discuss the issue and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The center's lawyers deny all abuse allegations.
Congressmen Visit Immigrant Parents
GLEN BURNIE, Md. (AP) - Two congressmen have toured a Maryland jail where migrant parents separated from their children are being held.
Democrats Don Beyer of Virginia and C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland toured the Anne Arundel County jail. It has a contract to hold inmates on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Beyer said he met two fathers who fled Honduras with their children. One said he was fleeing gang violence with his 7-year-old son. The father told Beyer he turned himself in to Customs agents at El Paso, Texas in March and was separated from his son after a day or two in custody. The second father had a similar story.
The congressmen said the fathers' stories illustrate the cruelty of the Trump administration's policy of separating migrant families at the border.
