Southwest Key Programs

In July 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Southwest Key, accusing its employees of subjecting minors in its care to sexual abuse and harassment from 2015 until at least 2023. ²

History

Southwest Key Programs was founded in 1987 by Juan Sanchez. ³ Sanchez resigned from Southwest Key Programs in 2019 amid an investigation into the organization’s finances. ⁴ The New York Times reported that organization leadership declared receiving very high salaries and that the group was under federal investigation in March 2019. ⁵

Leadership

Juan Sanchez is the founder of Southwest Key and the previous CEO. Sanchez previously sat on the board of the National Council of La Raza, or UnidosUS. ⁶ Southwest Key and UnidosUS broke ties in 2018 after UnidosUS criticized Southwest Key’s practices. ⁷

Anselmo Villarreal is the president and CEO of Southwest Key Programs as of February 2021. Prior to joining Southwest Key Programs, Villarreal was CEO of La Casa de Esperanza. Villarreal also worked with the Mexican government as a representative of the Institute of Mexicans Abroad in Wisconsin. In 2004, he was appointed by then-Wisconsin Governor James Doyle (D) to a role in the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission. He has sat on the boards of National Council of La Raza (now UnidosUS), the Alliance for Children and Families, the Mexican American Solidarity Foundation, the Workforce Development Center, Wisconsin Centro Legal, the Basic Needs Committee of the United Way, the Wisconsin Hispanic Scholarship Foundation, and the Catholic Charities Immigration Committee. He was further involved with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the National Housing Action Coalition. ⁸

Marisol Cervera is Southwest Key Programs’ chief program officer of immigrant children services. ⁹

Activities

Southwest Key Programs is an immigration-advocacy organization that receives funding from the U.S. government’s Unaccompanied Children Program. ¹

Southwest Key Programs operates immigrant children’s shelter services, home-study and post-release services, youth and family services, and workforce-development programs. As of January 2025, these programs are operational in Washington, California, Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Louisiana, Illinois, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. ¹⁰

According to a May 2024 report from the Free Press, Southwest Key Programs and two other organizations involved with the program reported a combined revenue of $597 million in 2019 that grew to a combined $2 billion in 2022. The report also alleged that the salaries of the non-government organization’s top executives have grown within the same frame of time. Southwest Key Program CEO Anselmo Villarreal received more than $1 million in compensation in 2022, while the chief human resources officer, chief operating officer, chief information officer, chief financial officer, and chief program officer all received salaries more than $500,000. ^{1 11}

Southwest Key works to unify unaccompanied illegal immigrant children with their relatives or sponsors. Most are aged 13 through 17 and are from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. The program has staff in 18 different states. The sheltering system was first established in 1997 as a part of a program established because of the 1997 Flores Settlement Agreement. ^{12 13} The organization also solicits a system of suppliers and vendors across the U.S., ¹⁴ runs a Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program, ¹⁵ and runs a Refugee and Migrant Technical Assistance Center that has contracted with the Office of Refugee Resettlement for more than 20 years. ¹⁶

In 2022, Southwest Key Programs spent $890,046,319 on its immigration-related activities at the U.S.-Mexico border including providing shelter for unaccompanied illegal immigrant children. Its caseworkers work to support family reunification within the United States, health screenings, classroom education, and other services. Southwest Key Programs also spent $11,083,902 on its Youth and Family Services Programs. Southwest Key Programs says it has supported more than 50,000 people  in each program. ¹⁷

Controversies

Alleged Sexual Abuse

In July 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Southwest Key Programs, accusing its employees of subjecting minors in its care to sexual abuse and harassment from 2015 until at least 2023. According to the New York Times, the organization had received nearly $6 billion in federal funds since 2007. ²

An employee was also accused of sexually assaulting eight unaccompanied minor boys between August 2016 and July 2017, and another employee was accused of molesting a teenage girl in 2018. ^{18 19}

Also in 2018, there were allegations that sexual abuse took place at Southwest Key shelters that housed minors in Arizona. Southwest Key paid a $73,000 fine and lost licenses after videos emerged showing physical abuse at two shelters. ^{20 21} The organization’s Hacienda del Sol shelter in Youngstown, Arizona, was closed after multiple staff members were accused of physically abusing three children. In March 2019, Arizona prosecutors declined to press charges in the case. ²² The shelter had allegations of abuse dating back as far as 2015. ²³

Substandard Charter Schools

Southwest Key Programs also runs a network of charter schools in Texas called Promesa Public Schools. Its flagship school is East Austin College Prep in Austin, Texas. Southwest Key Programs says that it started the schools to give disadvantaged children a chance to go to college. ²⁴

The New York Times reported that East Austin College Prep had substandard conditions, including an infestation of raccoons and rats, leaks in the roof of the main building, and a chair leg falling through a classroom floor. There was no cafeteria, so students ate lunch in the gym. ²⁴

The schools contracted with for-profit companies associated with Southwest Key Programs. For example, Southwest Key Maintenance charged one school $192,000 for janitorial work at the school; the Times reported that an independent janitorial contractor would have charged only $93,000. ²⁴

Another in-house for-profit company that provided services was Cafe del Sol, to which the schools paid $3 million for meals. Students complained about the poor quality, limited offerings, and high prices charged by the company. After a student demonstration and complaints from parents and teachers, the school switched to a cheaper outside vendor. ²⁴

Southwest Key Programs also charged rent and other fees to the schools it controls. East Austin College Prep paid Southwest Key Programs $900,000 in annual rent. The entire charter network paid $1.4 million in rent annually to Southwest Key. Southwest Key also charged a $334,000 management fee and $103,000 accounting fee. ²⁴

As of the March 2019 New York Times report, Promesa Public Schools was $3 million in debt due to its plans to expand to Brownsville and Corpus Christi despite receiving $65 million in government funds to help operate its schools. ²⁴

Alleged Misuse of Federal Funds

As of 2017,  federal law capped the pay of executives of nonprofits that receive federal grants for migrant sheltering at $187,000. As a grantee of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Unaccompanied Children Program, Southwest Key Systems claims to use its funds to provide housing and other services for unaccompanied illegal immigrant children who enter the U.S. through the southern border. ^{5 3}

In 2017, Juan Sanchez, then-Southwest Key president and CEO, made $1.5 million. His wife, Jennifer Sanchez, made $500,000 as Southwest Key’s vice president. His chief financial officer, Melody Chung, also received $1 million. In total, eight of Southwest Key’s employees made more than the $187,000 salary cap. ¹⁹

Southwest Key allegedly circumvented the pay cap through its for-profit services and the charter-school network. ¹⁹ Sanchez and Chung resigned after a federal investigation into the practice. ²⁵

Immigration Assistance Under Biden Administration

In June 2025, Southwest Key Programs was one of 215 non-governmental organizations (NGO) the U.S House of Homeland Security Committee noted as having received federal funding during the Biden Administration to settle undocumented migrants in the United Stated while helping “fuel the worst border crisis in our nation’s history.” ²⁶ House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) and Subcommittee Chairman Josh Brecheen (R-OK) sent letters to the over 200 organizations demanding the full amount in “federal grants, contracts or payments” they received  “between Jan. 19, 2021, and Jan. 20, 2025” as well as additional information on potential legal action they might have taken against the Federal Government and all services they provided to undocumented migrants during that period of time. The letters further read “[t]he Committee remains deeply concerned that NGOs that receive U.S. taxpayer dollars benefitted from the border crisis created by the Biden Administration, and stand ready to do so under future Democrat administrations.” ^{26 27}

Grantmaking

Southwest Key Programs makes grants to like-minded advocacy organizations. In 2022, the organization made grants of $30,000 to the League of United Latin American Citizens Council 22325, $25,000 to La Casa De Esperanza, $15,000 to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI), and $10,000 to Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley. ^{28 29}

In 2021, Southwest Key Programs made grants to LULAC Council 22324, CHCI, and La Casa. ³⁰

U.S. Government Grants

Southwest Key Programs is a grantee of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)‘s Unaccompanied Children Program. As of January 2025, it had received at least $861,000,000 from the U.S. federal government through 101 separate transactions in the calendar year preceding. These funds included $860.66 million from the HHS and $294,264 from the Department of Education. ³¹ Of these grants, $849.16 million were from the Refugee and Entrant Assistance federal account. ³¹

In 2024, reporting from the Free Press alleged that in 2020, Southwest Key Programs received $391 million in grants from the federal government. By 2022, it had received nearly $790 million in federal government grants. ¹ In 2017, the Unaccompanied Children Program accounted for 99% of Southwest Key’s $300 million budget. The organization also lobbies in support of continued funding on the issue. ³

Financials

In 2023, the Southwest Key Programs reported revenue of $897,499,983 and expenses of $900,925,634. In 2022, Southwest Key Programs reported revenue of $761,635,874 and expenses of $774,224,382. ³²