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Newsbrief: Mexico Shuts
Down Three "Youth Treatment" Centers, Deports Kids Back to US
September 17, 2004
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/354/mexico.shtml
Mexican immigration officials,
acting on complaints of abuse and mistreatment, shut down three
US-based "youth treatment" centers and began deporting some 590
youths back to the United States, Reuters reported Saturday. The
youths were in the country illegally -- as tourists, not residents
of a treatment program -- Mexican officials said, and at least one
of the centers was run by an American also on a tourist visa who had
no legal right to run a business in the country.
"Seventy-five percent of the
undocumented Americans have left the country. The rest will stay in
the care of the US Consulate in Tijuana until their parents are
contacted," said Raul Zarate, a spokesman for Mexican immigration
authorities.
In a statement, the immigration
ministry said the American kids were residents of the centers, which
treat behavioral problems and drug and alcohol abuse. The state
health ministry temporarily closed the centers after patients
complained of physical and psychological abuses.
Two of the centers have been
identified. One is the House of Hope Academy (http://www.houseofhopeacademy.com),
which specializes in a 12-step approach to "help troubled teens lead
productive lives free of drug-alcohol abuse and dependence," and is
led by a US Military Academy graduate.
[House of Hope Academy is not to be
confused with the National House of Hope (http://www.nationalhouseofhope.org),
another teen drug treatment center operated by Sara Trollinger, a
former teacher who "was led by the Lord to establish a faith-based
ministry" and who is the author of "Unglued & Tattooed: How to Save
Your Teen from Raves, Ritalin, Goth, Body Carving, GHB, Sex, and 12
Other Emerging Threats."]
The second center identified was
the Casa by the Sea, a behavioral modification program overseen by
the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools
(http://www.wwasp.com), a for-profit association of eight treatment
centers in Jamaica, the US, and, until last week, Mexico. The
organization emphasizes that it teaches "respect for authority" and
that its programs are "tough". Mexican immigration officials told
the New York Times some teens there showed signs of mistreatment.
WWASP president Ken Kay, of St.
George, Utah, denied the charges to the Salt Lake City newspaper the
Deseret News. "If you're investigating immigration violations, you
don't talk to a couple of kids who are angry about being sent away
by their parents," said Kay, whose St. George-based company makes
millions by enrolling troubled youths at facilities operating in
several states and Jamaica. "We had no letters, no notice, nothing.
They brought armed guards and six buses to transport the kids across
the border."
But the organization has a history
of problems. The Deseret News mentioned a case in New York in March
where two WWASP employees were accused of assaulting a 17-year-old
being transported to a WWASP program. Other assaults have been
alleged at WWASP centers in Utah and Montana.
Then there is Tranquility Bay,
WWASP's Jamaica operation. The New York Times reported in June 2003
on complaints of misrepresentation, mistreatment and abuse there,
noting also that a WWASP affiliate had been shut down under
government pressure in the Czech Republic and its Costa Rica
affiliate was closed after a revolt by its students there in May
2003.
In a deposition in a lawsuit filed
against WWASP and Tranquility Bay, Aaron Kravig, who was sent there
by court order, explained the punishment for a moderately serious
infraction: "They lay you flat on the floor, one... One of the staff
will get on... will like kneel down on your ankles, pressing your
ankles into the tile floor. One will probably sit on your back and
help another one pull your arms up over your back, so they will like
hyperextend your arms, sometimes they do it to your legs. Sometimes
they will like, they will set it on pressure points on your body
pretty much just to hurt you into subservience, so you won't... so
you will do what they tell you. I've seen the director of the
facility doing it himself, restraining a kid. We were walking up
from night head count and you could hear screaming; you always heard
screaming..."
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