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In this photo taken June 9, 2014 the recently renovated Southwest Key Programs facility in San Benito, Texas is shown. (David Pike/Valley Morning Star via AP)
A Southwest Key Programs sign is displayed on June 20, 2014, in Brownsville, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
In this photo taken June 9, 2014 the recently renovated Southwest Key Programs facility in San Benito, Texas is shown. (David Pike/Valley Morning Star via AP)
In this photo taken June 9, 2014 the recently renovated Southwest Key Programs facility in San Benito, Texas is shown. (David Pike/Valley Morning Star via AP)
A Southwest Key Programs sign is displayed on June 20, 2014, in Brownsville, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
A Southwest Key Programs sign is displayed on June 20, 2014, in Brownsville, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
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McALLEN, Texas (AP) — The Trump administration moved to drop a civil lawsuit Wednesday against the largest provider of housing for migrant children over allegations of sexual abuse and harassment of unaccompanied minors, saying it also would no longer use the provider.
The motion to dismiss the suit against Southwest Key Programs was filed after the federal government announced it had moved all unaccompanied children to other shelters.
The complaint, filed last year during the Biden administration, alleged a litany of offenses between 2015 and 2023 as Southwest Key Programs, which operates migrant shelters in Texas, Arizona and California, amassed nearly $3 billion in contracts from the Department of Health and Human Services.
The agency said it stopped sending unaccompanied children to the provider’s facilities “out of continuing concerns relating to these placements,” and said it would review grants going to the contractor. In view of the agency’s action, the Department of Justice has dismissed its lawsuit against Southwest Key, HHS said in a statement.
The shelter provider said they were pleased with the decision to dismiss the case. “Southwest Key strongly denied the claims relating to child sexual abuse in our shelters, and there is no settlement or payment required,” the statement Wednesday evening said.
“We always believed the facts would prove the allegations to be without merit. We thank the Government for its commitment to reviewing the whole record and dropping the case with prejudice,” they added.
This week, Southwest Key Programs furloughed employees across the country. “Due to the unforeseen federal funding freeze and the stop placement order on our unaccompanied minor shelters and Home Study Post Release programs by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, we have made the difficult decision to furlough approximately 5,000 Southwest Key Programs’ employees,” the company said in a statement shared Tuesday.
According to allegations in the 2024 lawsuit, Southwest Key employees, including supervisors, raped, inappropriately touched or solicited sex and nude images of children beginning at least in 2015.
Among the accusations: One employee “repeatedly sexually abused” three girls ages 5, 8 and 11 at the Casa Franklin shelter in El Paso, Texas, with the 8-year-old telling investigators the worker “entered their bedrooms in the middle of the night to touch their ‘private area.’”
The lawsuit also alleged that another employee, at a shelter in Mesa, Arizona, took a 15-year-old boy to a hotel and paid him to perform sexual acts for several days in 2020.
Children were warned not to report the alleged abuse and threatened with violence against themselves or their families if they did, according to the lawsuit. Victims testified that in some instances, other workers knew about the abuse but failed to report or concealed it, the complaint said.
“DOJ’s lawsuit revealed horrific sexual abuse and inhumane treatment of children detained in Southwest Key shelters,” said Leecia Welch, an attorney who represents unaccompanied children in a separate case. “It’s shocking to me that the government now turns a blind eye to their own contractor’s actions. I hope the impacted children will have other legal recourse and support in healing from their abuse.”
The lawsuit may not be over. On Wednesday, the National Center for Youth Law asked the court not to dismiss the case and grant them an opportunity to formally intervene on behalf of those affected by the alleged abuse. If granted, they would have 30 days to file a motion in the lawsuit.
At least two employees have been indicted on criminal charges related to the allegations since 2020.
The civil lawsuit had sought a jury trial and monetary damages for the victims.
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