Migrant Teens Restrained But Not Abused, Virginia Report Finds

Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Two bits of information to give you now - in the state of Virginia, a state inspection of a facility holding immigrant children finds that some of these children were restrained by strapping them to chairs and placing mesh bags over their heads. That's one piece of information. Here's the other. The investigators did not find enough evidence to meet state standards for determining that the children were abused. NPR's Richard Gonzales reports. RICHARD GONZALES, BYLINE: The investigation was conducted by the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice in response to a federal lawsuit filed in October 2017. It alleges that immigrant minors at the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center are subject to routine verbal abuse and physical assault by staff and, quote, "the extreme and inappropriate use of restraints and seclusion." Under federal law, such minors, known as unaccompanied children, who crossed the border without their parents are