Migrant children filmed being shoved and pushed by staff members at shelter in Arizona

An Arizona shelter has been referred to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office to determine whether charges will be filed against over a case of alleged abuse against migrant children.

The Arizona Republic reported last week that, based on surveillance video footage obtained by the newspaper through an open records request, staff at a Southwest Key shelter—the country’s largest provider of migrant children shelters—were allegedly shoving and dragging migrant children in their facilities.

The local newspaper said incidents of alleged child abuse took place in the Hacienda Del Sol shelter in Youngstown, Arizona around mid-September. The case involves three children and several staff.

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office told CNN that after investigating the allegations, it determined the actions did not warrant any criminal charges.

But that changed on Sunday when the Sheriff’s Office released an updated statement: “Based upon the evidence gathered during this thorough investigation, MCSO executive command has made the decision to submit the case to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office for its review and determination of criminal charges.”

After negotiations with state health officials, Southwest Key ended up closing the Hacienda Del Sol facility in October to avoid having its licenses revoked from its other 13 shelters in Arizona.

The Arizona Health Department reportedly considered revoking the licenses considering that Southwest Key had previously failed to provide the agency proof that it conducts employee background checks, according to CNN.

The video footage shows an incident where a male staff member is apparently dragging a young child into a room and pushing him against the wall. There seems to be some sort of squabble between the two before the adult male staff member leaves the room.

In another video, a female staff member is seen apparently pulling a child from one room while attempting to enter another room. The child is seen lying on the ground, and the female staffer drags them through the doorway while another staff member is pulling another child into a conference room, and drags that child into the next room.

Southwest Key declined to comment since the case is now pending review from the Maricopa County’s Attorney office, but in October, it released a statement to the Arizona Republic announcing it will close the facility in question and retrain its staff.

“We wholeheartedly welcomed the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s decision to suspend operations at Hacienda Del Sol and are working to thoroughly retrain our staff,” Southwest Key spokesman Jeff Eller told the Arizona Republic.

“We are simultaneously engaging the Child Welfare Consulting Partnership to do an independent, top to bottom review of our processes, procedures, hiring and training in our Arizona shelters.”

Southwest Key self-reported itself to the Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of Refugee Resettlement and local authorities when these incidents occurred.

After Southwest Key conducted an internal investigation, two staff members were fired and disciplinary measures were reportedly taken against other staffers.