Skip to main content
Families Divided

Feds sent immigrant kids to dangerous Texas youth facility, despite serious warning signs

Just as Texas stopped sending foster children to centers operated by one man, the U.S. government tossed him a new source of money: immigrant kids.

By Will Evans, Lance Williams and Matt Smith, Reveal
Shiloh Treatment Center, shown in an aerial photograph, is near Manvel, Texas, south of
Houston, ​and has received more than $33 million from the federal government for the care of immigrant youths.

Families Divided

The Trump administration's “zero tolerance” immigration policy, which led to the separation of children from adults who crossed the border illegally, has fueled a national outcry. Sign up for our ongoing coverage. Send story ideas to tips@texastribune.org.

 More in this series 

Drugging kids

Who is Clay Hill?

Dangerous restraints

Slapping, punching and kicking

Brielle Gillis arrived at Clay Dean Hill’s youth residential treatment centers in the 1990s as an
11-year-old foster child, removed from an abusive home. She says getting beat up was a part of
life at Hill’s facilities.

‘Controlling persons’

Relying on state oversight

Texans need truth. Help us report it.

Support independent Texas news

Become a member. Join today.

Donate now

Explore related story topics

Immigration