Justice Department sues Southwest Key for “serious sexual abuse and rape” of children from shelters

This June 20, 2014, file photo shows a sign for the Southwest Key program in Brownsville, Texas. A provider of housing for immigrant children wants to reopen two facilities that the state of Arizona was forced to close last year because of problems with staff background checks and allegations of abuse. Southwest Key has filed applications to reopen a facility in downtown Phoenix and one in the suburbs where staff were investigated for child abuse but never charged. The nonprofit filed the applications in June and July. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against Southwest Key Programs Inc., alleging that the Texas nonprofit repeatedly sexually abused children in its homes.

Southwest Key is a nationwide nonprofit organization with at least 29 shelters for unaccompanied migrant children in 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 Department of Justice filed a complaint against the company, stating that several employees subjected the children entrusted to their care to “repeated and unwanted sexual abuse” between 2015 and 2023.

The complaint further states that staff created a hostile environment, including “severe sexual abuse and rape, incitement to engage in sexual acts, incitement to provide nude photographs, incitement to engage in sexually inappropriate relationships, sexual comments and gestures, lascivious looks and inappropriate touching.”

According to the document, the children were between the ages of five and teenagers.

According to the Department of Justice, Southwest Key took inadequate steps to prevent this sexual harassment, failed to comply with federal requirements for reporting abuse, and discouraged children from reporting sexual harassment.

The complaint relates to a 2022 incident in which a Southwest Key Youth Services worker “repeatedly sexually abused” a 5-year-old, an 8-year-old and an 11-year-old girl at Casa Franklin in El Paso.

The document refers to a separate incident in May 2022 in which a youth worker at Casa Oasis in McAllen “sexually touched” boys during transport.

The complaint lists additional reports of sexual abuse in Brownsville, San Benito, Los Fresnos, Channelview and Arizona.

The Justice Department also cites several cases in which victims were threatened or discouraged from reporting the abuse, including an incident in El Paso where an employee threatened an eight-year-old girl that he would kill her family if she reported the abuse to anyone.

“In search of the American dream, children must often undertake dangerous journeys as they migrate from the north to the southern border. The sexual harassment alleged in the lawsuit would destroy every child’s sense of security and turn the American dream into a nightmare,” said U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani of SDTX. “We look forward to working with the Civil Rights Division (CRD) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas (WDTX) to bring justice to the victims who allegedly suffered harm in the Southwest Key shelters.”

The program receives grants from the DHHS Office of Refugee Resettlement to provide housing for the children in the home.

The lawsuit seeks financial compensation for the injured children and a civil penalty to “protect the public interest.”

Anyone with information about additional cases of sexual harassment or abuse at Southwest Key shelters is asked to contact the hotline at 1-833-591-0291 or by email at [email protected].