In July 2014, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee, claimed that the Obama administration would attempt to warn Central American parents to stop sending their children on the dangerous route to entering the U.S. illegally. At the time, Johnson’s statement that some girls are given birth control “in case they’re raped along the way,” shocked the nation.
Yet little was done to protect the children, and in parts of Arizona and Texas, the border surge did not recede. In fact; it increased.
No one will ever know how many kids have been molested, kidnapped, sold, and shipped off to other lands, or died on the journey north, but we do know that more kids are making the journey.
Whistleblowers with Southwest Key reported that the children in their care were told to mention in their calls to relatives back home that “El Presidente” was welcoming them and that they should consider making the journey.
In an interview on the popular James T. Harris radio show, Susan Tully, National Field Director for FAIR (Federation for American Immigration Reform) discussed those who lure children to take the treacherous trek. Tully said that at first many believed the surge was due, and studies showed, that the lack of enforcement by the Obama administration and the “encouragement through DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, that triggered it.” However, Tully told Harris that they then received reports from Border Patrol agents “who had interviewed these kids that they were in fact getting flyers and that it was from El Presidente. We assumed that was President Obama. But then I find out this guy who runs these shelters, particularly here in Tucson Juan Sanchez, calls himself El Presidente. His organization is receiving between 2009 and 2013 $434,000,000 for unaccompanied minors. So you have to ask yourself is he El Presidente? And is it because he is being paid by the federal government; 98.49 percent of the money his organization gets comes from tax payers.”
It doesn’t matter so much which El Presidente is responsible for the surge, what matters is that adults are benefitting either politically or financially of the misery of children.
According to Southwest Key’s 2013 IRS 990 form, which all non-profits must file, the organization claimed its mission was “opening doors to opportunity so individuals can achieve their dreams.” On that same form, Southwest Key’s revenue was $168,051,119. Its total assets stood at $65,770,910.
In the 990 Statement of Accomplishments, the organization reported expenses of $129,236,198, and revenue of $129,236,198 for:
THE UNACCOMPANIED MINORS PROGRAM, SERVES YOUTH WHO ENTER THE UNITED STATES WITHOUT PARENTS OR PARENTS OR ADULT GUARDIANS AND HAVE BEEN DETAINED BY IMMIGRATION OFFICIALS. AS ONE OF THE LARGEST PROVIDERS OF SHELTER SERVICES TO UNACCOMPANIED MINOR’S IN UNITED STATE, OUR PROGRAM ENCOURAGES THE DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONAL, SOCIAL, ACADEMIC AND VOCATIONAL SKILLS WHILE THE MINORS AWAIT REUNIFICATION WITH THEIR FAMILIES AND/OR RESOLUTION OF THEIR LEGAL CASE. MINORS ARE PROVIDED WITH EDUCATION, COUNSELING, AND CASEWORK MANAGEMENT, RECREATIONAL AND MEDICAL SERVICES. OUR PROGRAM HONORS AND RESPECTS INDIVIDUAL CULTURES AND TRADITIONS AS WELL AS OFFERS OPPORTUNITIES FOR ACCULTURATION. THESE HUMANITARIAN SERVICES ARE PROVIDED IN THE NURTURING STRENGTH-BASED ENVIRONMENT.
Late last year, the ADI reported on the Southwest Key whistleblowers’ claims. We quoted one whistleblower, who told the ADI, “I think three of my cases – I know for a fact – were coyotes. They were traffickers. And they were being handed off,” referring to her Southwest Key clients. In light of the whistleblowers’ claims and the AP report, it is difficult to see how these services are entirely humanitarian.
However, for their humanitarian actions, El Presidente and his wife earn a pretty penny. El Presidente earned $443,279 in regular compensation and a $22,559 in “other compensation. Mrs. El Presidente, Jennifer Nelson earned $180,000 in regular compensation as one of three Vice-Presidentes. She also earned an additional $14,281 in “other compensation.”
Trafficking children is a lucrative enterprise, and done in the name of humanitarianism under the cover the government provides, it is not only lucrative – it is legal.
The Southwest Key whistleblowers’ claims that there was little scrutiny of those who received the minors are confirmed in the AP report. The report reads:
“First, the government stopped fingerprinting most adults seeking to claim the children. In April 2014, the agency stopped requiring original copies of birth certificates to prove most sponsors’ identities. The next month, it decided not to complete forms that request sponsors’ personal and identifying information before sending many of the children to sponsors’ homes. Then, it eliminated FBI criminal history checks for many sponsors.
Since the rule changes, the AP has identified more than two dozen children who were placed with sponsors who subjected them to sexual abuse, labor trafficking, or severe abuse and neglect.
“This is clearly the tip of the iceberg,” said Jacqueline Bhabha, research director at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University. “We would never release domestic children to private settings with as little scrutiny.”
The Southwest Key whistleblowers offer a heartbreaking explanation for this lack of care. They say that those who claim to be magnanimous humanitarians view the migrant children as less-than. They frequently hear that the minors have it better here than from whence they came and should be grateful.
According to the AP report, “Advocates say it is hard to gauge the total number of children exposed to dangerous conditions among the more than 89,000 placed with sponsors since October 2013 because social workers could not find many of the migrants designated for follow-up.” If it is even 1 that is 1 too many for any humanitarian worth their salt.
Arizona State Representative Bob Thorpe has called for an investigation into the Southwest Key facilities. It would seem that the AP report would force officials to heed that call.