El Salvador: 3 kids separated in US were abused at shelters

Three minors from El Salvador separated from their parents after crossing the US border were sexually abused in shelters in Arizona, Salvadoran officials have said.

Liduvina Magarin, deputy foreign relations minister for Salvadorans overseas, said authorities had received reports of the abuse of the children ages 12 to 17 by workers at unnamed shelters.

"They are sexual violations, sexual abuses, that is what this is about," Magarin told journalists yesterday.

She added that the Salvadoran government is making lawyers available to the families, and it will be up to them to decide how to proceed.

The revelations come as the Trump administration has been facing heavy criticism over its slow pace in reuniting separated families. Most have been reunited, but hundreds remain apart.

Magarin said her government is pressuring the United States to begin reunification of the children with their families. "May they leave the shelters as soon as possible, because it is there that they are the most vulnerable."