Current:Home > MarketsHousing provider for unaccompanied migrant children engaged in sexual abuse and harassment, DOJ says -StockSource
Housing provider for unaccompanied migrant children engaged in sexual abuse and harassment, DOJ says
View
Date:2025-04-12 21:41:18
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The largest housing provider for unaccompanied migrant children has engaged in the “severe, pervasive” sexual abuse and harassment of children in its care, the Justice Department alleges.
Southwest Key employees, including supervisors, have raped, touched or solicited sex and nude images of children in its care since at least 2015, the DOJ alleged in a lawsuit filed Wednesday. At least two employees have been charged since 2020, according to the lawsuit.
Based in Austin, Southwest Key is the largest provider of housing to unaccompanied migrant children, operating under grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It has 29 child migrant shelters: 17 in Texas, 10 in Arizona and two in California.
Children living there range in ages from 5 to 17. Among the allegations is the repeated abuse of a 5-year-old in the care of a Southwest Key shelter in El Paso. In 2020, a youth care worker at the provider’s Tucson, Arizona, shelter took an 11-year old boy to a hotel for several days and paid the minor to perform sexual acts on the employee, the Justice Department alleges.
Children were threatened with violence against themselves or family if they reported the abuse, according to the lawsuit. It added that testimony from the victims revealed staff in some instances knew about the ongoing abuse and failed to report it or concealed it.
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said Thursday that the complaint “raises serious pattern or practice concerns” about Southwest Key. “HHS has a zero-tolerance policy for all forms of sexual abuse, sexual harassment, inappropriate sexual behavior, and discrimination,” he said in a statement.
The lawsuit comes less than three weeks after a federal judge granted the Justice Department’s request to lift special court oversight of Health and Human Services’ care of unaccompanied migrant children. President Joe Biden’s administration argued that new safeguards rendered special oversight unnecessary 27 years after it began.
The Associated Press left a message with the company seeking comment Thursday.
veryGood! (561)
Related
- Highlights from Trump’s interview with Time magazine
- Guns smuggled from the US are blamed for a surge in killings on more Caribbean islands
- 13 Skincare Gifts Under $50 That Are Actually Worth It
- Horoscopes Today, November 12, 2024
- A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
- Glen Powell Addresses Rumor He’ll Replace Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible Franchise
- Oil Industry Asks Trump to Repeal Major Climate Policies
- RHOBH's Kyle Richards Addresses PK Kemsley Cheating Rumors in the Best Way Possible
- North Carolina justices rule for restaurants in COVID
- Amtrak service disrupted after fire near tracks in New York City
Ranking
- Finally, good retirement news! Southwest pilots' plan is a bright spot, experts say
- Kentucky officer reprimanded for firing non-lethal rounds in 2020 protests under investigation again
- 'I heard it and felt it': Chemical facility explosion leaves 11 hospitalized in Louisville
- 13 escaped monkeys still on the loose in South Carolina after 30 were recaptured
- The Best Stocking Stuffers Under $25
- Summer I Turned Pretty's Gavin Casalegno Marries Girlfriend Cheyanne Casalegno
- Monument erected in Tulsa for victims of 1921 Race Massacre
- Subway rider who helped restrain man in NYC chokehold death says he wanted ex-Marine to ‘let go’
Recommendation
North Carolina justices rule for restaurants in COVID
Rare Alo Yoga Flash Sale: Don’t Miss 60% Off Deals With Styles as Low as $5
13 escaped monkeys still on the loose in South Carolina after 30 were recaptured
Gigi Hadid and Bradley Cooper Prove They're Going Strong With Twinning Looks on NYC Date
The FBI should have done more to collect intelligence before the Capitol riot, watchdog finds
Multi-State Offshore Wind Pact Weakened After Connecticut Sits Out First Selection
10 Trendy Bags To Bring to All of Your Holiday Plans
Cameron Brink set to make Sports Illustrated Swimsuit debut