Justice Department: Employees of the largest housing provider for unaccompanied migrant children raped and touched children in their care

The largest housing provider for unaccompanied migrant children is guilty of “severe, widespread and unwelcome” sexual abuse and molestation of the children entrusted to it, the Justice Department claimed on Thursday.

In a lawsuit, the Justice Department alleges that Southwest Key employees, including supervisors, have raped, touched, solicited sex from, and exposed naked children in their care since at least 2015.

Austin-based Southwest Key is the largest provider of shelters for unaccompanied migrant children and is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The organization has 29 shelters for migrant children: 17 in Texas, 10 in Arizona and two in California.

The lawsuit comes less than three weeks after a federal judge granted the Justice Department’s request to lift special oversight of the Department of Health and Human Services’ care of unaccompanied migrant children. President Joe Biden’s administration argued that new safeguards made special oversight unnecessary 27 years after it was put in place.

The Associated Press left a message with the company seeking comment Thursday.