Lawsuit Alleges ‘Severe Sexual Abuse’ of Migrant Children, Other Violations at Nonprofit Shelters

Employees at the largest shelter provider for unaccompanied migrant children in the U.S. sexually abused and harassed them, the U.S. Department of Justice alleged in a lawsuit.

The lawsuit, filed this week in the Western District of Texas, alleges a “pattern” of “severe or pervasive sexual harassment” going back to at least 2015 by multiple workers in the network of shelters run by the Austin, Texas-based Southwest Key.

The nonprofit contracts with the federal government to care for migrants arriving in the U.S. without parents or legal guardians. Southwest Key operates 29 shelters that provide temporary housing for unaccompanied children in three states, including California.

North County and East County have been locations for shelters operated by the nonprofit, which also has sites in Texas and Arizona under grants from the Department of Health and Human Services.

The complaint includes alleged cases of “severe sexual abuse and rape, solicitation of sex acts, solicitation of nude photos, entreaties for sexually inappropriate relationships, sexual comments and gestures.”

Southwest Key did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Justice Department said Southwest Key failed to protect the children in its care and did not consistently follow federal requirements for preventing, detecting and reporting abuse.

In a 2022 case detailed in the complaint, a Southwest Key employee allegedly repeatedly sexually abused three girls, ages 5, 8 and 11, at Casa Franklin in El Paso, Texas.

The eight-year-old girl said the employee threatened to kill her family if she disclosed the abuse, the complaint alleges.

In another case, from 2020, an employee took a 15-year-old boy from Casa Kokopelli in Arizona to a hotel room for several days and paid him for sex acts. In both cases, the abuse was documented in Southwest Key’s own reports, according to the lawsuit.

“Sexual harassment of children in residential shelters, where a child should be safe and secure, is abusive, dehumanizing and unlawful,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said in a statement on Thursday.

Migrant children who arrive at the border unaccompanied are housed by the U.S. government before being released to sponsors in the U.S., usually parents or close relatives.

The lawsuit seeks monetary damages to compensate children harmed by the alleged harassment, a civil penalty to vindicate and a court order barring future discrimination and an order requiring Southwest Key to take appropriate steps to prevent it in the future.

Individuals who believe that they may have been victims of sexual harassment or abuse at Southwest Key shelters or who have other information that may be relevant to this case, may contact the Justice Department’s housing discrimination tip line at 1-833-591-0291.

There have been a record number of migrant crossings during the administration of President Joe Biden, a Democrat running for re-election against Republican Donald Trump. Since fiscal year 2021 through June of this year more than 500,000 unaccompanied minors have arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border, according to U.S. government data.

(Reporting by Kristina Cooke and Mica Rosenberg; editing by Marguerita Choy)