Youth center's director cites suit in feds' decision

Youth center's director cites suit in feds' decision

Web Posted: 06/15/2008 12:55 AM CDT

By Hernan Rozemberg
hrozemberg@express-news.net

Sergio Fernández would rather not sound conspiratorial, but he has a hard time explaining why, despite an existing agreement, the federal government no longer sends detained immigrants to his San Antonio youth center.

Though it's open for business, the four-story, 12-acre Hector Garza Residential Treatment Center near U.S. 281 and Loop 1604 on the North Side sits empty. Its last two residents left nearly two weeks ago.

He hasn't been given an official explanation, but Fernández, the center's director, surmised it may have something to do with a lawsuit filed against him, his staff and his corporate parent by eight minors formerly housed at the center who claimed they suffered physical abuse and neglect.

The center is privately owned and operated by Abraxas Youth and Family Services, the juvenile division of Houston-based corrections giant Cornell. The 121-bed center, a former psychiatric hospital, houses youths under state and federal contracts.

The agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is to temporarily oversee as many as 30 unauthorized immigrant minors pending their release or deportation.

A spokesman for the federal agency did not return messages for comment on why immigrant youths — whose average stay is two to three months — are no longer sent to the center. The agency has also failed to respond to repeated requests in the past three months for tours and access to staff and residents of Hector Garza and other centers in the San Antonio area.


(Hernan Rozemberg/Express-News)

Lounges at the Hector Garza Residential Treatment Center have seascapes painted by its youngsters.


Unlike other HHS-contracted “shelters” or dormitory-style campuses, the Hector Garza center is designated “staff secure” because it's a more restrictive setting meant to handle problematic youngsters.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Antonio in April, came as a result of a brawl between center residents and staff in February. Staffers called police to help quell the mayhem, which concluded with four minors under arrest.

According to the suit, filed by Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, excessive violence used by staff and police symbolized incessant abuse that minors reported to supervisors to no avail. State and federal officials are accused of covering up abuse reports.

Fernández said the allegations are ludicrous and malicious — legal and political maneuvering meant to buy minors more time for their immigration cases while making a for-profit juvenile detention business look bad.

“They don't have one shred of evidence,” Fernández said Thursday while giving a reporter a tour of the center. “We're looking forward to seeing this through to be fully vindicated.”

Though he couldn't discuss details of the February fracas for legal reasons, he already claimed victory after a state investigation cleared the center of abuse or neglect.

The report from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services faulted staffers for failing to remove one minor checking out the fight — a citation Fernández is appealing — but found no other violations.

Pointing to cameras and microphones in the ceiling in the hallway where the clash took place, Fernández remained confident he'll win the suit because the fight was recorded.

The three residential floors are split into two wings to separate resident populations — immigrant youngsters cannot have contact with youths housed under other contracts.

Rooms have two single beds and a bathroom, and doors must remain open except during the day, when staff lock them while minors attend classes taught by the John H. Wood Jr. Charter School.

Residential wings have classrooms, lounges with seascapes painted by the youngsters and laundry rooms — residents are encouraged, though not obliged, to wash their own clothes, Fernández said.

The first floor has an intake area and cafeteria, while outside are picnic tables, a pool, a small soccer field and a 12-foot steel “no-climb” fence that replaced another barrier over which five minors had jumped to flee — three were caught.

Fernández said overzealous lawyers preyed on minors' survival instincts, prompting them to sue the center. Staff and residents had cordial and even amiable relations before lawyers began showing up, he lamented.

“Sometimes we feel like a pawn in a bigger issue,” he said. “But we're not about whether government policies are right or wrong. We're about providing a safe environment for the kids — that's it.”

Immigrant advocates have drawn national attention to the arrest and detention of minors caught in the United States illegally. The federal responsibility for them was transferred from immigration authorities to HHS five years ago.

The first internal HHS review of the program, a report by the agency's inspector general in March, concluded that, overall, the system works well. But it faulted the agency for lack of oversight of its 36 immigrant youth centers across the country, noting that field representatives seldom interact directly with minors.

A separate lawsuit against HHS was filed in February over accusations of sexual abuse of minors at a shelter in Nixon, about 55 miles east of San Antonio. The center had since closed and a criminal investigation rendered the seven-year conviction of Belinda Leal, a guard at the center.

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