DOJ Alleges Housing Provider Employees Sexually Abused Unaccompanied Migrant Children

Southwest Key, despite being aware of these ‘severe and pervasive harms,’ failed to take appropriate action to protect children in its care, the DOJ alleges.

An unaccompanied girl from Honduras, 4, stands at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint after she crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico in Roma, Texas on Aug. 14, 2021. John Moore/Getty Images

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is suing housing provider Southwest Key Programs Inc. over allegations that the Texas-based nonprofit “engaged in a pattern” of sexual abuse and harassment of unaccompanied migrant children for years, in violation of the Fair Housing Act.

The lawsuit was filed on July 17 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.