Texas health inspectors find dozens of violations at shelters for immigrant children: report 

Texas health inspectors found nearly 150 violations at more than a dozen shelters across the state that are housing immigrant children, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.

Violations from the last year at Southwest Key Program shelters include inadequate supervision and lack of timely medical care, according to the news service. Children were also given medications they were allergic to, it added. 

A spokesperson for Southwest Key, which operates 16 shelters housing 2,600 children, told the AP that the violations found account for less than 1 percent of the standards that inspectors reviewed.

The majority of the children housed in the shelters were either separated from their parents when they crossed the border or came into the United States alone.

President Trump’s administration implemented a policy of increased immigrant prosecutions last month, leading to the increase in separations.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has said the practice of separating migrants from their children is a way to deter illegal border crossings.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) defended the administration’s policy on Monday, saying that it can’t be avoided.

Senate Democrats introduced legislation last Friday that would prevent the separation of immigration children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border.