DOJ sues nonprofit that houses migrant children, accusing staff of sexual abuse
Southwest Key Programs operates 29 shelters in Texas, Arizona and California, including this facility in Harlingen, Texas. (Photo by Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
A Texas-based nonprofit that contracts with federal immigration authorities to shelter unaccompanied migrant children subjected some in its care to pervasive sexual abuse and harassment for almost a decade, the U.S. Justice Department alleged in a lawsuit it filed Wednesday.
Youth care workers at Southwest Key Programs, the country’s largest private provider of housing for unaccompanied children, which contracts with the Office of Refugee Resettlement and receives grants from the Department of Health and Human Services, repeatedly sexually abused children in the nonprofit’s shelters from 2015 to at least 2023, the lawsuit alleged.
At several Southwest Key shelters, staff sexually assaulted children, solicited sexual acts and nude photos, and discouraged children from reporting abuse, in some cases threatening them and their families, according to the lawsuit.
“In search of the American Dream, children often endure perilous journeys on their migration north to the southern border,” said Alamdar Hamdani, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas, in a news release. “The sexual harassment alleged in the complaint would destroy any child’s sense of safety, turning what was an American Dream into a nightmare.”
Southwest Key said in a statement that the Justice Department’s lawsuit did not “present the accurate picture of the care and commitment our employees provide to the youth and children.”
“We are in constant communication and continue to closely partner with the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), as we have done so for the past two decades to ensure the children and youth entrusted to our care are safe with us during their short stay with Southwest Key,” Southwest Key spokesperson Anais Biera Miracle said.
The Department of Health and Human Services, which runs the Office of Refugee Resettlement, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Southwest Key operates 29 shelters in Texas, Arizona and California, according to the Justice Department. The shelters can accommodate around 6,000 unaccompanied minors who are referred to Southwest Key by federal authorities after arriving at the southern border, the lawsuit states.
Southwest Key received over $3 billion in funding from the Department of Health and Human Services between the fiscal years of 2015 and 2023, according to the lawsuit.
During that period, Southwest Key received over 100 reports of sexual harassment or abuse of the children under its care, which the nonprofit allowed to continue without adequate intervention, the Justice Department alleged.
In 2019, a supervisor at a shelter in Channelview, Texas, repeatedly raped, abused and threatened a teenage girl, who reported the abuse by passing a note to her teacher when the supervisor was on vacation, according to the lawsuit. The girl was transferred to another shelter.
That year, a clinician at a shelter in Mesa, Arizona, asked a teenage girl graphic and detailed questions about sex, asked if she wanted a hug, and “looked over her body,” prompting the girl to complain, according to the lawsuit.
In 2022, a youth care worker at a shelter in El Paso repeatedly sexually abused a 5-year-old girl, an 8-year-old girl and an 11-year-old girl and threatened to kill the children’s families if they reported the abuse, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit does not state what happened to the employees accused of abuse after the incidents were reported.
Southwest Key employees failed to report knowledge or suspicion of sexual abuse and harassment on numerous occasions and threatened children into silence, the Justice Department alleged. In one case, a child with physical marks on her body who reported sexual assault was allegedly instructed by a Southwest Key employee to “cover up” the marks. In another case, Southwest Key staff allegedly discouraged a child from reporting harassment by telling her it would delay her reunification with her family.
Southwest Key’s website states that most children in its care are between the ages of 13 and 17, and are from Central America. The children typically remain in Southwest Key shelters for about 30 days, where staff provide medical care, education and recreational activities, according to the nonprofit and the Justice Department’s lawsuit.
The nonprofit grew quickly during the Trump administration and its shelters were among those that absorbed children separated from their families at the border under the former president’s immigration policy in 2018, The Washington Post previously reported.
Allegations of abuse and mistreatment at Southwest Key facilities previously emerged when the nonprofit’s facilities came under scrutiny during that period. A Southwest Key employee was convicted in 2018 of sexually abusing seven teenage boys at a facility in Mesa.
The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, which advocates for youth to be reunited with family members once they reach the border, said in a statement responding to the lawsuit that large shelters leave unaccompanied minors vulnerable to abuse.
“Any child who has been a victim of abuse while in custody deserves immediate care, attention, and justice,” the statement said.
The Justice Department’s lawsuit seeks civil penalties and damages for children allegedly abused and harassed at Southwest Key’s facilities.
