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A coalition of advocacy groups is demanding immediate action to end what they say is mistreatment of unaccompanied minor immigrants at the hands of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents.
Children say they have been punched, kicked and raped while in custody, in a complaint with more than 100 allegations. Others say they were fed only frozen sandwiches, forced to drink toilet tank water or forced to use toilets in front of other detainees.
In a complaint filed Wednesday, one in four children reported some form of physical abuse, ranging from sexual assault to beatings to the use of stress positions.
Five victims' advocacy groups jointly filed the complaint with the Department of Homeland Security on behalf of 116 unaccompanied immigrant children, aged five to 17 years old.
There were multiple claims of sexual or racially-charged insults and strip searches.
The coalition says there is also the lack of basic care. In cases documented from March to May of this year, 80 percent of the children said they didn’t get enough food or water.
In a 2014 report that involved interviews of 224 young detainees, more than half of them said they were held in wrist and ankle shackles.
Source: Immigrant Children Raped, Punched, Kicked in Border Patrol Custody: Complaint | NBC 7 San Diego
There have been many complaints pied up over time with these types of accusations. I think an investigation needs to brought forward to this, and that the way we treat immigrants while in custody needs some major reform. If any of these accusations show to be true, then we need major overhaul in how we detain undocumented immigrants.