A 17-year-old girl from Honduras says a staff member at a Seattle shelter violated the shelter's rules by touching her and other migrant girls at the facility, according to court documents.
The girl’s account is part of a federal lawsuit filed last week by migrant children and their advocates from around the country, challenging the federal government’s handling of cases of minors who cross the border without parents or guardians.
The girl — identified only as "A.C.M.S." — entered the U.S. in September and was transferred to a shelter run by YouthCare in Seattle, the lawsuit says.
She fled Honduras after being "sexually abused and exploited" and is receiving counseling, according to the filing.
A.C.M.S. said in the lawsuit that a male staff member, who works at night, has violated YouthCare’s "no touch" policy by making physical contact with some of the girls.
She described incidents in which the employee, who is not identified, touched her arm and touched her friend’s feet while sitting on that girl’s bed.
"This has been a triggering experience for A.C.M.S., who continues to cope with the emotional trauma of sexual abuse," the lawsuit states.
"She has been terrified to sleep at night for fear the staff person will enter her room and do something to her," the filing continues. "When she does sleep, she has terrible nightmares and wakes up screaming."
YouthCare's chief executive is named as a defendant in the lawsuit. A spokeswoman said the nonprofit does not comment on individual clients, but laid out the organization's procedure for cases like this.
"Any time a young person shares a concern about their safety or indicates an incident in program, involving staff or not, we immediately conduct an internal investigation and place involved staff on administrative leave until our review is completed," spokeswoman Jody Waits said.
She said YouthCare has notified the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement and state officials about this case, and both entities are considering "their own actions or investigations."
YouthCare, based in Seattle’s Ravenna neighborhood, oversees Casa de los Amigos, a 20-bed shelter for unaccompanied minors who enter the U.S. It’s funded by the federal Department of Health and Human Services, according to YouthCare’s website.
Children at the shelter have access to "legal assistance, case management, physical and mental health care, and education," the website says.
A document on YouthCare’s website lists two goals for Casa de los Amigos: to focus on family reunification "for every youth whenever possible" and to provide "loving and dignified care" for those housed.
Four girls met with a supervisor of the shelter and said they wanted the employee barred from the facility, according to the lawsuit; the supervisor told them the incident would be investigated.
"A.C.M.S. worries that the male staff member might try to do something to her for getting him in trouble," the lawsuit says.
The federal lawsuit, filed in Alexandria, Virginia, claims the government’s process for uniting unaccompanied minors with sponsors in the U.S. is overly burdensome and "designed to stymie — rather than facilitate — the release of detained immigrant children."
Lawyers for the Southern Poverty Law Center and Legal Aid Justice Center, who are representing plaintiffs in the case, argue the government's policies violate the Constitution's due process clause. They're asking a judge to order federal authorities to create a new system for unification.
A.C.M.S. is one of 12 children listed as plaintiffs. The children, ranging in age from 11 to 17, are from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico. They entered the U.S. last year and were transferred to facilities in various parts of the country.
The lawsuit describes efforts by A.C.M.S.’s father, who lives in New Jersey, to gain permission from federal authorities to take custody of his daughter.
His efforts included moving out of a home with roommates into an apartment where he lived alone, allowing an inspector into the apartment, submitting fingerprints, paying for and taking parenting classes, and filling out paperwork with the help of a sister-in-law, according to the lawsuit.
He is awaiting paperwork he must sign indicating he is the one living in and paying for the apartment, the lawsuit says.
Citing a leaked draft of a memorandum, the lawsuit claims federal authorities planned to use unaccompanied migrant children as “bait” to draw out sponsors who are in the U.S. without legal status, with the goal of arresting them.
Leaders of the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the care of unaccompanied migrant children, are named as defendants in the case. A spokeswoman for the department said it does not comment on pending litigation.
The Seattle-based nonprofit Northwest Immigrant Rights Project joined the children and their sponsors in filing the lawsuit.
"We hope this court case will lead to families being reunified as soon as possible," Jorge Baron, the group’s executive director, said in a news release.
