Southwest Key Program (Southwest Key), a Texas-based nonprofit, is accused of engaging in a pattern or practice of sexual abuse and harassment of unaccompanied children in the organization’s shelters, according to a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). This accusation forms the basis of a lawsuit announced on July 18.
The pattern or practice complaint alleges that "Southwest Key failed to take sufficient action to prevent, detect, and respond to sexual abuse and sexual harassment to protect the children in its care," according to the overview of the filing from the DOJ. The DOJ claims that this inaction led to discrimination on the basis of sex, which constitutes a violation of the Fair Housing Act. Unaccompanied children were allegedly subjected to severe and pervasive sexual harassment by Southwest Key’s employees.
"Sexual harassment of children in residential shelters, where a child should be safe and secure, is abusive, dehumanizing and unlawful. Sexual abuse of children is a crisis that we can’t ignore or turn a blind eye to. This lawsuit seeks relief for children who have been abused and harmed, and meaningful reforms to ensure no child in these shelters is ever subjected to sexual abuse again," said Kristen Clarke, Assistant Attorney General, DOJ Civil Rights Division, in a July 18 news release from the DOJ.
According to Southwest Key, they have welcomed unaccompanied minors as part of their partnership with the U.S. response to immigration issues at the southern border. The organization "works to reunify them with a parent, relative, or sponsor" when they arrive at its shelters. Many juveniles in these shelters are aged 13-17 and come from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. These minors often arrive alone in the U.S., according to information on Southwest Key’s website.
The shelters operated by Southwest Key are part of a federal system created after the 1997 Flores Settlement Agreement. Immigrant minors must be released from U.S. Border Patrol custody within 72 hours as per this agreement. At this point, unaccompanied minors are placed under the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement and moved into the federal shelter system managed by organizations like Southwest Key.
The U.S. Department of Justice dates back to the Judiciary Act of 1789, which created the Office of the Attorney General; Edmund Jennings Randolph was appointed as the first Attorney General on September 26, 1789. In 1850, an Office for an Assistant Attorney General was established. The U.S. Department of Justice itself was created in 1870 along with its Civil Rights Enforcement division.
