Largest Housing Provider for Unaccompanied Migrant Children Facing Charges of Pervasive Sexual Abuse; DOJ Sues Southwest Key for ‘severe sexual abuse and rape’ of Sheltered Children

Largest Housing Provider for Unaccompanied Migrant Children Facing Charges of Pervasive Sexual Abuse:

Southwest Key Programs Inc., the largest provider of housing for unaccompanied illegal immigrant children, is facing charges of pervasive sexual abuse. It’s alleged that employees and supervisors raped, fondled, and solicited sex and nude pictures from children in their care. At least two employees have been indicted on criminal charges in connection with the allegations since 2020.

Southwest Key Programs operates a vast network of shelters across three states. The 29 child migrant shelters — 17 in Texas, 10 in Arizona, and two in California — can accommodate 6,300 children. The company’s largest shelter in Brownsville, Texas, is at a converted Walmart with a capacity of 1,200.

The company received $3 billion in government contracts from 2015-2023.

“In some cases, Southwest Key employees threatened children to maintain their silence,” the lawsuit states. “In harassing these children, these Southwest Key employees exploited the children’s vulnerabilities, language barriers, and distance from family and loved ones.”

In his desperation to make the unaccompanied children coming across the border disappear, the Biden administration placed the kids with unvetted sponsors. That’s a scandal that’s been unfolding with some of the sponsors determined to be selling the children into slavery.

But this is a government contractor that should be vetted thoroughly and closely monitored. That wasn’t done, and the children are suffering because of it. —>READ MORE HERE

DOJ sues Southwest Key for ‘severe sexual abuse and rape’ of sheltered children:

The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Southwest Key Programs Inc., alleging that the Texas non-profit organization has engaged in a pattern of sexual abuse of children in its shelters.

Southwest Key is a national non-profit organization with at least 29 shelters for unaccompanied migrant children across several states, including Texas, Arizona and California.

The organization has four shelters in Brownsville, two in San Benito and one shelter in Weslaco, McAllen and Los Fresnos.

The Justice Department filed a complaint against the company, stating that from 2015 to 2023, multiple employees have subjected the children in their care to “repeated and unwelcome sexual abuse.”

The complaint continues stating that employees created a hostile 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.”

The document stated that the children ranged in age from as young as 5 years old to teenagers.

According to the DOJ, Southwest Key took insufficient action to prevent this sexual harassment, failed to follow federal requirements for reporting abuse and discouraged children from disclosing sexual harassment. —>READ MORE HERE

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