Trump Administration
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The Justice Department dropped a Biden-era lawsuit against Southwest Key, the largest provider of housing for unaccompanied minors, after the Health and Human Services Department said it stopped sending children to those shelters.
Aishvarya Kavi
Reporting from Washington
The Trump administration said on Wednesday that it had stopped using the largest U.S. operator of shelters for migrant children over allegations of sexual abuse and harassment of minors at the facilities, and moved to dismiss a Biden-era lawsuit that sought to hold the nonprofit accountable for enabling that abuse.
A joint statement issued by the Health and Human Services and Justice Departments on Wednesday cited concerns over allegations detailed in the lawsuit filed last year, namely that employees for the provider, Southwest Key Programs, subjected children to abuse and harassment.
The suit accused employees of Southwest Key, which has worked with the federal government for more than two decades, of exploiting “children’s vulnerabilities, language barriers and distance from family and loved ones” from 2015 through at least 2023, including President Trump’s first term.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, in the statement, blamed the Biden administration’s immigration policies for enabling the abuses.
“Under the border policies of the previous administration, bad actors were incentivized to exploit children and break our laws: this ends now,” Ms. Bondi said, adding, “securing our border and protecting children from abuse are among the most critical missions of the Department of Justice and the Trump administration.”
Anais Biera Miracle, a spokeswoman for Southwest Key, maintained the nonprofit denied the claims of abuse. She said it was “pleased” that the Justice Department had dropped the case in its entirety, and that charges cannot be refiled.
“There is no settlement or payment required,” Ms. Miracle said in an email. “We are glad this matter is now concluded.”
Abuse and harassment were also alleged to have taken place during President Trump’s first term, including during his policy of family separation, which forced thousands of additional minors into federal custody. In a complaint filed in July, federal prosecutors reported that Southwest Key employees subjected minors to threats of violence to prevent them from reporting rape, solicitations of sex and entreaties for nude photographs, among other inappropriate conduct and abuse for at least eight years, across three presidential administrations.
At the time the complaint was filed, the H.H.S., which assumes responsibility for housing children who arrive at the southern border unaccompanied by parents or legal guardians, continued to place minors at shelters run by Southwest Key even as prosecutors asked that the nonprofit face penalties and that it pay damages to the victims.
The decision appears to conclude a gradual reversal of fortune for Southwest Key, which has worked with the federal government for more than two decades, operating more than 25 shelters across Texas, Arizona and California. It has been awarded more than $6 billion in federal funds since 2007. After the H.H.S. announced that it would review its grants to Southwest Key, Ms. Miracle, the spokeswoman, said that the government had frozen funding and put in place a stop placement order on Southwest Key shelters, forcing the nonprofit to furlough about 5,000 employees.
Housing underage migrants for the federal government has been a financial boon for contractors like Southwest Key, whose award money more than doubled during the family separation policy overseen by Mr. Trump in 2017 and 2018. It was one of several providers that cashed in as the administration scrambled to find shelter for more than 5,000 children forced into federal custody, turning the care of migrant children into a billion-dollar business with little transparency.
The New York Times revealed in 2018 that Southwest Key had funneled government money through a web of for-profit companies to convert public funds into private money for the organization and pay top executives millions of dollars. Shortly after, the Justice Department opened an investigation into possible financial improprieties. Southwest Key also began an internal inquiry, and high-level executives, including its founder and chief financial officer, eventually resigned.
The complaint filed by the Justice Department last year disclosed that Southwest Key had documented dozens of cases of abuse reported by children, the majority of whom were 13 to 17 and came from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. But Southwest Key’s employees did not report abuse they had observed or knew of, or any violations of policies intended to protect minors.
By one account, a worker who sexually abused three girls ages 5, 8 and 11 threatened to kill their families if they told. In another case documented by Southwest Key, a supervisor deliberately changed shifts to be alone with a teenage girl he repeatedly raped, abused and threatened. At night, he would enter her bedroom and those of others in violation of Southwest Key’s policies. The girl was transferred to a different shelter after she reported the abuse.
At the time, a spokeswoman for Southwest Key said that the complaint did not “present the accurate picture of the care and commitment our employees provide to the youth and children,” and that the company remained focused on “the safety, health and well-being” of the children at its shelters.
Aishvarya Kavi works in the Washington bureau of The Times, helping to cover a variety of political and national news. More about Aishvarya Kavi
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