U.S. is using unreliable dental exams to hold teen migrants in adult detention

The young Bangladeshi sitting in the dentist’s chair last October thought he was getting checked for diseases.

Dental staff examined his teeth, gave him a cleaning and sent him back to the juvenile facility where he had been held for months since illegally crossing the border in July.

But a checkup wasn’t the real purpose of the dental work. The government wanted to figure out if “I.J.,” as the young migrant has been identified, really was 16, as he said, or an adult.” Read more at L.A. Times here.

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