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Lawsuit Alleging Abuse at Immigrant Detention Center Moves Forward

Six latino teens alleged they were “severely abused” in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center.

A federal civil rights lawsuit alleging that six immigrant teens were “severely abused” in a Virginia detention center will go forward, despite two of the teens being sent back to their home countries and one of them no longer wanting to be a part of the case. According to the Associated Press, the teens claimed in sworn statements that they were “beaten while handcuffed, locked up for long periods in solitary confinement and left nude and shivering in concrete cells” in the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center. While the three original plaintiffs are no longer part of the case, another victim of similar alleged abuses will be joining it. The juvenile center’s lawyers have denied the allegations, and have requested that a September hearing be postponed so they can have more time to investigate the new plaintiff’s claims.