If you caught the news last week, two members of Congress visited the San Benito, Texas detention center for unaccompanied minors operated by Urban Strategies, Inc. based in St. Louis Missouri. The two Reps. were Joaquin Castro of San Antonio (D-20^th) and Vicente Gonzalez (D-34^th). because of allegations of maltreatment. sexual abuse, and pregnancies of young girls barely teenagers at 13 years of age. So far, 3 girls have already given birth to babies and 3 more are pregnant. No doctor or OBGYN is on site at the detention center. And, there have been no federal investigations into who impregnated these girls and when. The Congressmen were not allowed to interview the girls.

The Cameron County government has expressed no interest in what is going on in Precinct 3, San Benito, not the County Judge,  Eddie Treviño, Jr. who has been in that position for 10 years, much less the County Commissioner, David A. Garza, a pharmacist, of Precinct 3. He has been in that position for 26 years! Before that he led the San Benito Consolidated School District as Board President for 6 years and member for another 6 years. The school board service does not pay but the county commissioner seat does, an annual salary of $93,480. The County Judge earns more plus an extra $11,400 for expenses.

Urban Strategies, Inc. as of November 30, 2021 has had massive financial contracts to run such centers in 17 states, Puerto Rico, and Virgen Islands. A contract reported in the Federal Register of that date put the contract amount at $18.8 million dollars. Another competitor I have already written about, Southwest Key received a larger amount, $178 million dollars on that date also for the year of 12/1/2021 to 9/30/2022. The money comes from the budget of Department of Health and Human Service’s (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).

The CEO of Urban Strategies is an Asian decent woman, Esther Shin, who earns $344,601 annually for her work plus an expense account of another $10K. Her VP is a Black man, Donovan Duncan who earns $257,223 in salary and another $16K from an expense account. The other executives, mostly Black females, earn salaries that range from $160K to $111K plus expense accounts. The Board of Directors of this non-profit organization (501 (c) 3) has White males in the top positions with no pay reported, just expenses, and a mix of females, Black and White, in the other board positions.

Later, I will write up a piece on the GEO Group which is one of the two largest contractors that operate detention centers for immigrants. For now, Urban Strategies, Inc. has my attention because of the visit by the Congressmen. Rep. Joaquin Castro has been the most active member who is Chicano visiting such detention centers trying to interview inmates to learn firsthand about the conditions and maltreatment of detainees. So far, all the private contractors funded by federal tax payer money have not been allowed to visit with such detainees. They have toured the facilities and noted less than sanitary conditions, especially for female inmates who do have special needs during their monthly cycles, pre-natal care, and during birthing. Abortions are not allowed.

This treatment of unaccompanied minor is federal child abuse and complicity in the sexual abuse, possible rape, of pre-teen and teenage girls, possibly boys also. Besides Rep. Joaquin Castro and a couple of others where are the lawyers of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, (MALDEF) on this issue? Nationally, where are the leaders of UNIDOS US on this matter? How about the Cameron County District Attorney, Luis V. Saenz who has been in a prosecutorial position for decades since 1990? South Texas Legal Aid should go investigate on behalf of these unaccompanied minors as their Next Friend.