On July 17, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit against Southwest Key Programs, Inc. for sexually abusing and harassing unaccompanied minors encountered at the southern border. The lawsuit alleges employees at Southwest Key shelters have “engaged in a pattern or practice of sexual abuse and harassment of unaccompanied minor children.” Several of the children were as young as 6 years old.
The nonprofit benefits from taxpayer dollars as do many other non-governmental (NGOs) nonprofits that partner with the federal government to process illegal immigrants at our nation’s borders. According to Influence Watch, in 2017, the UAC program “accounted for 99 percent of Southwest Key’s $300 million budget.” In 2023, HHS awarded Southwest Key $222.9 million in grant money in service of its refugee and entrant assistance program.
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division said “Sexual abuse of children is a crisis that we can’t ignore or turn a blind eye to. This lawsuit seeks relief for children who have been abused and harmed, and meaningful reforms to ensure no child in these shelters is ever subjected to sexual abuse again.” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra stated the agency has “a zero-tolerance policy for all forms of sexual abuse, sexual harassment, inappropriate sexual behavior, and discrimination,” a rich statement for an agency that consistently fails to protect minor children at the border with many of its policies.
According to the DOJ press release, Southwest Key operates 29 shelters that provide temporary housing for unaccompanied minor children (UACs) in Texas, Arizona, and California, making it the largest housing provider for UACs in the U.S. The shelters house unaccompanied minors until they can be reunited with their immediate families or until they are placed with a relative or “vetted sponsor.”
The truth is that these children are extremely vulnerable to abuse because HHS has been egregiously derelict in its ability to protect them. The vetting process for sponsors is poor at best in so many cases. And many of these children become victims of a broken social services system.
Some of the “vetted” sponsors turn out to be abusers, traffickers, and criminals. As a result, many illegal alien minor children become child labor slaves, are sold for sex, or go missing altogether. Tara Lee Rodas told the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement in April that there were “85,000 missing” illegal alien children in the U.S.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Court for the Western District of Texas, alleges employees from Southwest Key abused or harassed children “from 2015 through at least 2023.”
“[F]rom 2015 through at least 2023, multiple Southwest Key employees subjected children in their care to severe or pervasive sexual harassment that has included, among other things, sexual contact and inappropriate touching, solicitation of sex acts, solicitation of nude photos, entreaties for inappropriate relationships and sexual comments.”
Southwest Key Failed to Correct the Abuses
The complaint also alleges Southwest Key did very little to address the problem, despite repeated attempts by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to correct the behavior.
“The complaint further alleges that Southwest Key took insufficient action to prevent sexual harassment of the children in its care, failed to consistently follow federal requirements for preventing, detecting and reporting abuse including sexual harassment, failed to take appropriate or sufficient action to protect the children in its care and discouraged children from disclosing sexual harassment in violation of federal requirements, despite ORR having issued multiple corrective actions to Southwest Key.”
“Levian D. Pacheco, who is HIV-positive, include that he performed oral sex on two of the teenagers and tried to force one of them to penetrate him anally. The other six teens — all between 15 and 17 — said Pacheco had groped them through their clothing.”
The incidents allegedly took place between August 2016 and July 2017. In addition, Casa Kokopelli allegedly failed to complete background checks, “including fingerprinting, to ensure that employees hadn’t previously committed sex offenses and other crimes, records show.” Pacheco allegedly worked for almost four months without a complete background check, as documented by the Arizona Department of Health Services in 2017.
Another article from the same time period referenced “troubling incidents inside the facilities housing immigrant children.” Lisa Fortuna, director of child and adolescent psychiatry at Boston Medical Center, noted that shelters like the ones run by Southwest Key are a “gold mine” for predators. “You have full access and then you have kids that have already had this history of being victimized,” Fortuna added.
According to ProPublica, between 2013 and 2018, police had responded to “at least 125 calls reporting sex offenses at shelters that primarily serve immigrant children.” Notably, those abuses are often undercounted because illegal aliens are loathe to report abuse for fear of being removed from the country. One of the abuse complaints filed in 2017 can be found here.
This is not the first complaint filed by the government against Southwest Key. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas charged 61-year-old Rodolfo Alanis with “sexual contact with three minor children in April 2023.”
Alyssa Milano Confirms Abuses at Southwest Key in Her Investigation
Actress and activist, Alyssa Milano, investigated Southwest Key in 2019. Responses to her FOIA requests, said Milano, “show and prove” that Southwest Key “just doesn’t care.” In the X thread below, Milano discusses in detail the public records and articles associated with the allegations of abuse in Southwest Key shelters:
In 2018, two of the Phoenix-area shelters were forced to close and pay fines to the state of Arizona. Until the closures, there were eight programs housing alien children in 13 facilities across the state.
Southwest Key claims on its website that it “work[s] to ensure safety and well-being” of youth, most of whom are “between the ages of 13-17.” The children travel most often from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador to “escape dangerous conditions.” The nonprofit prides itself in being an “integral partner with the U.S. response to the immigration crisis at our southern border, sheltering immigrant children under 18 years of age who arrive in this country without a parent or guardian.”
ORR Data on UACs
According to ORR data, between 2018 and 2020, about 16 percent of the UACs were 0-12 years old. 12 percent were 13-14 years old. 37 percent were 15-16 years old, and 35 percent were 17 years old. As of July 12, 2024, 6,640 unaccompanied minors were in ORR care. The age-related statistics have remained relatively stable since FY2012. There was a small increase in female arrivals in FY2023. ORR operates a network of 289 facilities or programs in 29 states.
ORR referrals have increased significantly during the Biden administration, no surprise. In 2020 there were 15,381 referrals. In 2021, 2022, and 2023, there were 122,731, 128,904, and 118,938 respectively. 2022 represents a 738 percent increase in referrals over 2020.
Full release data of UACs to sponsors by state and county can be found here and here. Additional UAC information can be found on the HHS.gov website. The latest FY2024 data on UACs can be viewed here.
Southwest Key Also Runs a Network of Charter Schools
Southwest Key also “runs a network of charter schools in Texas called the Promesa Public Schools.” Influence Watch claims the schools had “substandard conditions” and allegedly bilked taxpayers by overcharging for services. According to Influence Watch,
The schools contract with for-profit companies associated with Southwest Key Programs. For example, Southwest Key Maintenance charged the school $192,000 for janitorial work at the school; an independent janitorial contractor allegedly would have charged only $93,000.
“Another in house for-profit company that provided services to the school was Cafe del Sol, which the schools paid $3 million for meals. Students complained about the poor quality, limited offerings, and high prices charged by the company. After a student demonstration and complaints from parents and teachers, the school switched to a cheaper outside vendor.“
Freedom Forever is an all-volunteer organization that focuses its energy and time on preserving the innocence and safety of children. Freedom Forever is now also offering crisis support for survivors and families. Please call the Crisis Resource Line at 615.307.0152 or email our resource specialist at Starr@FreedomForever.us.
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