July 18, 2024
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Employees of the largest housing provider for unaccompanied migrant children in the U.S. repeatedly sexually abused and harassed children in their care for at least eight years, the Justice Department said Thursday, alleging a shocking litany of offenses that took place as the company amassed billions of dollars in government contracts.
Southwest Key Programs Inc. employees, including supervisors, raped, touched or solicited sex and nude images of children beginning in 2015 and possibly earlier, the Justice Department said in a lawsuit filed this week. At least two employees have been indicted on criminal charges related to the allegations since 2020.
While I applaud the efforts to right the grievous wrongs these children have experienced, I hope the federal government will also take some responsibility for the role it played.
Leecia Welch
Related Work
View All Latest ContentLawsuit says R.I. is ‘failing’ kids with serious mental, behavioral health needs
Rhode Island Current
In the News
- Case Name
- J.“E.”L. v. Charest
- Status
- Active
Children’s Rights, American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island, and Disability Rights Rhode Island filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of Medicaid-eligible children against the state of Rhode Island for denying them legally required and medically necessary mental health care. Without access to intensive home and community-based services, these children have been routinely segregated from their communities and placed in institutions—sometimes far from home—where they are unable to thrive, and they remain at serious risk of continued unnecessary isolation and institutionalization.
Child Health, Families Together, Government Accountability
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