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DonViejo

(60,536 posts) Mon Jun 25, 2018, 08:43 AM Jun 2018

Teenager Is Missing After Walking Away From Migrant Children's Center in Texas

By Mihir Zaveri and Manny Fernandez
June 24, 2018

A 15-year-old migrant boy who was housed in a large shelter near the southern tip of Texas walked off its premises on Saturday and disappeared into the borderland, officials said.

The shelter, a former Walmart in Brownsville, Tex., that was repurposed as the largest migrant child care center in the country, has come under intense scrutiny as children who were separated from their parents under President Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy began being housed there. On Sunday, the nonprofit group Southwest Key Programs, which operates the center known as Casa Padre, confirmed that the teenager was missing.

The news of a teenager’s departure came as company officials sought to reassure members of Congress and the news media who had toured the center that the roughly 1,500 boys living there, aged 10 to 17, were well cared for and closely monitored.

A spokesman for Southwest Key, Jeff Eller, said on Sunday it could not legally require children to stay on the premises if they sought to leave, and that “from time to time” children had left several of its 27 shelters for immigrant children.

more
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/24/us/migrant-boy-leaves-texas-shelter.html

6 replies

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Teenager Is Missing After Walking Away From Migrant Children's Center in Texas (Original Post) DonViejo Jun 2018 OP

"it could not legally require children to stay on the premises if they sought to leave," ... marble falls Jun 2018 #1

I'm trying to figure out the legality here Lee-Lee Jun 2018 #3

How could anyone have anticipated this? gratuitous Jun 2018 #2

It could also be an excuse for his death in the shelter, a cover up, oh, he walked away. n/t RKP5637 Jun 2018 #4

Or even worse, he could be being trafficked. marble falls Jun 2018 #5

Yep! n/t RKP5637 Jun 2018 #6

marble falls

(57,540 posts)

1. "it could not legally require children to stay on the premises if they sought to leave," ...

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Mon Jun 25, 2018, 08:46 AM

Jun 2018

if this is true, we could really shut them down.

Lee-Lee

(6,324 posts)

3. I'm trying to figure out the legality here

Reply to marble falls (Reply #1)

Mon Jun 25, 2018, 08:52 AM

Jun 2018

Are they the legal guardians for these children at this point, or not?

And if so, what rules does HHS have about what they can and cannot do as far as what means they can use to keep a child in heir care from leaving. Is physical restraint allowed? If not, what recourse do they have if a minor chooses to just walk away?

I know it’s a sticky issue. Even what a parent can do with a 15 year old who wants to leave varies from state to state. Throw in a situation with foster care or some sort of institutional care and the laws get more complex.