The Justice Department Department sued Southwest Key Programs Inc., the largest housing provider for unaccompanied migrant children in the U.S., accusing employees of sexually abusing and harassing children in their care over at least eight years.
According to the lawsuit, employees subjected unaccompanied children “in in their care to repeated and unwelcome sexual abuse, harassment, and misconduct and a hostile housing environment, including severe sexual abuse and rape, solicitation of sex acts, solicitation of nude photos, entreaties for sexually inappropriate relationships, sexual comments and gestures, leering, and inappropriate touching.”
This pattern of behavior allegedly began as early as 2015, coinciding with the company receiving billions of dollars in government contracts.
In some cases, Southwest Key employees threatened children to maintain their silence.Since 2020, at least two employees have faced criminal charges related to these allegations.
Southwest Key operates 29 shelters in Texas, Arizona, and California, with a capacity to house over 6,300 children. Despite this, the exact number of children currently under their care is unclear. The Justice Department and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have not commented on whether children will be removed from these shelters or if the nonprofit’s contracts will be terminated, as first reported by AP News.
In a statement, Southwest Key disputed the allegations, claiming the lawsuit does not accurately represent the care provided to the children. However, the lawsuit reveals more than 100 reports of sexual abuse or harassment at Southwest Key shelters since 2015.
For instance, at the Casa Franklin shelter in El Paso, Texas, an employee allegedly abused three girls, threatening to kill their families if they disclosed the abuse. Another incident in Tucson, Arizona, involved an employee taking an 11-year-old boy to a hotel and paying him for sexual acts in 2020.
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra emphasized in a statement the the department’s zero-tolerance policy for sexual abuse and harassment, while Southwest Key’s spokesperson, Anais Biera Miracle, maintained that the complaint “does not present the accurate picture of the care and commitment our employees provide to the youth and children.”
The lawsuit follows a federal judge’s decision to end special court oversight of HHS’s care of unaccompanied migrant children, a measure the Biden administration argued was unnecessary due to new federal safeguards.
Nonetheless, the allegations against Southwest Key have sparked outrage and calls for accountability. According to AP News, Neha Desai, another attorney involved in court oversight, called the allegations “profoundly disturbing and shocking.”
“I hope that the government takes the most aggressive measures possible to ensure that children currently placed at Southwest Key facilities are not in harm’s way,” said Desai, senior director for immigration at the National Center for Youth Law.
