Allegations of "severe, pervasive" sexual abuse and harassment at the hands of employees from Southwest Key, the largest housing provider for unaccompanied migrant children, have surfaced in a lawsuit filed this week by the Department of Justice. The Texas Tribune reports that the DOJ's allegations involve instances of rape, inappropriate touching, solicitation of sex, and requests for nude images from children residing in the company's shelters, with confirmed abuses dating back to 2015.
According to the southwest-based nonprofit organization that also operates in Arizona and California with a network of 29 facilities, the victims range from 5 to 17 years old. The lawsuit pinpoints grievous incidents, including the repeated abuse of a 5-year-old child in an El Paso shelter and an episode where a youth care worker in Tucson, Arizona, exploited an 11-year-old for several days at a hotel. Alarmingly, staff were aware of the abuse on multiple occasions, choosing silence or concealment rather than intervention.
The Justice Department's complaint comes after a federal judge recently lifted court oversight of the Health and Human Services’ care of unaccompanied migrant children, a protective measure previously deemed unnecessary by the Biden administration due to new safeguards. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra responded to the allegations stating, "HHS has a zero-tolerance policy for all forms of sexual abuse, sexual harassment, inappropriate sexual behavior, and discrimination," according to a statement.
The Texas provider has yet to publicly address the lawsuit, though The Associated Press reached out for their comment last Thursday.
