Immigrant children being detained have allegedly been given psychiatric medication

Immigrant children arriving in the US are being sent to various shelters that have histories of alleged child abuse and are being forced to take psychiatric medication, a lawsuit claims.

A class action lawsuit filed back in April in California alleges that undocumented children detained in some US facilities have been held down and injected with psychiatric drugs and other medications without their parents’ consent. 

Several of those children have described in the court filings the harrowing conditions they were allegedly forced to endure while staying at the government-funded run shelters as they waited to learn if they could remain in the US.

The most disturbing allegations have come out of the Shiloh Treatment Center in Manvel, Texas. 

The most disturbing allegations mentioned in the class action lawsuit filed in April have come out of the Shiloh Treatment Center in Manvel, Texas (pictured above)

A joint investigation published by Reveal and The Texas Tribune on Wednesday stated that the Shiloh facility has been given $26 million in federal government funding since 2013 to house migrant children. 

The private company that operates the facility has also been plagued by prior allegations of misconduct, including the death of a child in custody. 

The lawsuit claims that the children were told they wouldn’t be released from custody or see their parents if they didn’t take the powerful medication.

The children have said they were told the drugs were only vitamins and some were forced to take as many as 18 pills in a day. 

Most of the drugs mentioned in the court documents – including olanzapine and quetiapine – are used to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression.

The cases mentioned in the lawsuit seem to predate the children who have made headlines of late after being forcibly removed from their parents at the US-Mexico border (above) 

The cases mentioned in the lawsuit seem to predate the children who have made headlines of late after being forcibly removed from their parents at the US-Mexico border (above) 

The children who have recently been separated from their parents made headlines after images of them being held in cages caused outrage

The children who have recently been separated from their parents made headlines after images of them being held in cages caused outrage

Other medications like prazosin are used to treat high blood pressure, PTSD and anxiety. 

One child remembered taking nine pills in the morning and seven in the evening but did not know what kind of drugs they were. 

Other children referred to in the court documents said the drugs gave them severe side effects, including one who put on 45 pounds in two months and another who said the drugs left her unable to walk.  

The cases mentioned in the lawsuit seem to predate the children who have made headlines of late after being forcibly removed from their parents and held in cages in detention centers. 

The children mentioned in the lawsuit appear to unaccompanied minors trying to be reunited with a parent of guardian already in the US.   

The Shiloh Treatment Center has not commented on the lawsuit.  



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