More than half of the allegations of sexual abuse of unaccompanied migrant minors by staff members occurred in shelters run by three nonprofit contractors that received federal grants totaling more than $2.5 billion over the past four years, according to USAspending.gov, reports Axios. The federal government has received as many as 10 reports of alleged sexual abuse by staff at multiple migrant child shelters over the past four years, totaling 178 allegations against adult staff members, according to Department of Health and Human services documents.
Southwest Keys Programs (SWK) is the largest of the nonprofit contractors running shelters for migrant children. It has received $1.5 billion from government contracts over the past four years. During that time, there were 65 allegations of sexual abuse by staff at their shelters. “Any mistreatment of a child is unacceptable and violates the mission that guides our organization,” said SWK spokesperson Neil Nowlin. Baptist Child & Family Services (BCFS) is part of a larger organization involved in international relief efforts, educational services, adoption, foster care and other health and human services. Twenty-three allegations of sexual misconduct by staff members occurred in BCFS shelters, several of them involving inappropriate relationships between adults and migrant minors, as well as at least two instances where pornographic images were allegedly offered or shown to minors. The nonprofit has received received $768 million in government funding since 2015. International Educational Services (IES) shelters were responsible for the third highest number of staff-related sexual abuse allegations with 14 reports filed to the Justice Department. The nonprofit was shut down in 2018 after an audit by the HHS inspector general. HHS received 4,556 complaints of sexual misconduct by minors and adults from October 2014 to July 2018, and the Department of Justice received a total of 1,303 complaints.