U.S. sues Texas-based shelter operator, alleging staff sexually abused migrant kids

Employees at the largest housing provider for unaccompanied migrant children sexually abused and harassed minors in its care over the course of years, the U.S. Justice Department alleges in a lawsuit filed this week. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Austin, maintains that federal authorities uncovered a pattern of "severe" and "pervasive" harassment extending back to at least 2015 in shelters operated by Southwest Key Programs Inc. At least two of the Austin-based nonprofit's employees have been criminally charged since 2020, according to the government's petition. “Sexual harassment of children in residential shelters, where a child should be safe and secure, is abusive, dehumanizing and unlawful,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement.