DOJ Alleges Housing Provider Employees Sexually Abused Unaccompanied Migrant Children

An unaccompanied girl from Honduras, 4, stands at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint after she crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico in Roma, Texas on Aug. 14, 2021. John Moore/Getty Images

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is suing housing provider Southwest Key Programs Inc. over allegations that the Texas-based nonprofit “engaged in a pattern” of sexual abuse and harassment of unaccompanied migrant children for years, in violation of the Fair Housing Act.

The lawsuit was filed on July 17 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.

It lists Southwest Key Programs Inc. as the lone defendant.

According to the DOJ, from at least 2015 to 2023, employees at Southwest Key allegedly subjected unaccompanied migrant children in their care to repeated and unwelcome “sexual abuse, harassment, and misconduct and a hostile housing environment.”

This included, “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 DOJ alleges in its lawsuit.

In some cases, Southwest Key employees allegedly “threatened children to maintain their silence,” the lawsuit stated.

“In harassing these children, these Southwest Key employees exploited the children’s vulnerabilities, language barriers, and distance from family and loved ones,” the DOJ alleges.

Southwest Key, despite being aware of these “severe and pervasive harms,” failed to take appropriate action to protect the children in its care and did not follow federal requirements for preventing, detecting, and reporting abuse, including sexual harassment, the department alleged.

The care provider also “discouraged” children from disclosing sexual harassment in violation of federal requirements, the DOJ alleged.

The nonprofit’s actions “constitute a pattern or practice of discrimination in housing because of sex in violation of the Fair Housing Act,” the department alleges.

‘Abusive, Dehumanizing, Unlawful’

“Sexual harassment of children in residential shelters, where a child should be safe and secure, is abusive, dehumanizing and unlawful,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in a statement. “Sexual abuse of children is a crisis that we can’t ignore or turn a blind eye to.”

Ms. Clarke said the DOJ’s lawsuit not only seeks relief for the children who have suffered alleged abuse at the hands of Southwest Key Programs employees, but it also seeks “meaningful reforms” to ensure no child in these shelters is ever subjected to sexual abuse again.

In an emailed statement to The Epoch Times, Southwest Key spokesperson Anais Biera Miraclea said the housing provider’s primary focus is the “safety, health, and well-being of each one of the children and youth we care for.”

Southwest Key is reviewing the complaint, which “does not present the accurate picture of the care and commitment our employees provide to the youth and children,” she said.

“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,” Ms. Miraclea stated.

Southwest Key Programs Inc. is one of the largest Latino-led nonprofit organizations in the United States, according to its official website, where it describes itself as an “integral partner in the U.S. response to the immigration crisis at our southern border.”

The organization provides housing to unaccompanied immigrant children under 18 years of age who arrive at the southern land border of the United States without a parent or guardian.

Unaccompanied minors wait to be processed by Border Patrol agents near the U.S.–Mexico border in La Joya, Texas, on April 10, 2021. John Moore/Getty Images

Southwest Key Received Billions in Federal Grants

According to the DOJ, Southwest Key currently has 29 child migrant shelters—17 in Texas, 10 in Arizona, and two in California—with room for 6,350 children.

The company’s largest shelter in Brownsville, Texas is at a converted Walmart and has a capacity of 1,200.

In its lawsuit, the DOJ noted that Southwest Key receives grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to provide housing and other care for unaccompanied children at its various shelters.

The DOJ said that between fiscal years 2015 and 2023, Southwest Key received over three billion dollars in funding from HHS.

As a recipient of federal funds, Southwest Key “is responsible for ensuring it will operate its shelter care in a non-discriminatory manner, and it made express contractual assurances it would comply with all federal statutes relating to nondiscrimination, including the Fair Housing Act,” the lawsuit said.

The DOJ is seeking an unspecified amount in monetary damages, a civil penalty to “vindicate the public interest,” and for the court to ban Southwest Key from future discrimination. It also asks the court to ensure Southwest Key takes appropriate steps to prevent such harassment in the future.

The DOJ is seeking a jury trial in the matter.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.