Trump administration officials have repeatedly insisted that the family separation policy they implemented over the last six weeks is humane. But the ongoing lawsuit over the Flores agreement, a 1997 settlement that partly governs the detention of child migrants that the White House hopes to overturn, alleges a litany of wrongdoings at the ORR-contracted facilities.

Shiloh Residential Treatment Center has come under fire in the past for allegations of serious misconduct, including forcible medication and unwarranted use of physical restraints ― a problem that Williams said children housed there also complained of. In 2011, state regulators shut down another residential treatment center that businessman and Shiloh President Clay Dean Hill owned after a child died while restrained in a closet, according to a 2014 investigation by the Houston Chronicle.

Two other children died in centers established by Hill after they were restrained, according to a Reveal investigation. The report found that ORR-contracted shelters had serious records of wrongdoing ― including sexual and physical abuse. However, over the last four years, they continued to receive a total of $1.5 billion to house child migrants.