Honduran boy, 14, wins U.S. asylum but remains in jail. No parents , no problem : taxpayers on the hook.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

A boy who made his way alone across the U.S. border last year to escape extreme domestic abuse in Honduras has been locked up in a Northern California juvenile hall for nearly a year, even though he has no criminal record and has been granted asylum.

The boy, 14, should be in foster care rather than in jail, lawyers working to free him argue. In custody, they say, he receives little treatment for the severe trauma he has suffered, a condition that’s been made worse by his indefinite detention. During his 11 months in jail, much of it spent alone in his cell, he has repeatedly tried to harm himself and has lashed out at times, causing staff in the facility to douse him with pepper spray or bind his wrists and ankles.

The boy, who is being detained at the Yolo County Juvenile Detention Facility in Woodland, is not being named by The Chronicle because of his age, mental health condition and the jeopardy he faces as an asylee with an uncertain future. In a petition challenging his detention as unlawful that is expected to be filed in the coming weeks in U.S. District Court, the teen will be referred to only by his initials, G.E.

Officials involved with the Honduran boy’s case, including the federal Administration for Children and Families and its Office of Refugee Resettlement, declined to comment, citing confidentiality protections for minors.

America's growing tax burden.