DOJ Sues Migrant Child Center for ‘Sexual Abuse and Harassment’
This was inevitable — the ‘UAC’ system has never worked, and is breaking down
By Andrew R. Arthur on July 23, 2024
On July 18, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced it’s suing Southwest Key Programs Inc., “a Texas-based nonprofit that provides housing to unaccompanied children [UACs] who are encountered at” the Southwest border, for engaging in “a pattern or practice of sexual abuse and harassment of” children trusted to its care. Such a shocking claim — while inevitable — is emblematic of the issues inherent in the federal government’s UAC system, which has never worked and is now breaking down under its own weight as migrant children continue to surge across the U.S.-Mexico line.
How We Got Here. The term “unaccompanied alien child” is defined in statute as:
a child who — (A) has no lawful immigration status in the United States; (B) has not attained 18 years of age; and (C) with respect to whom — (i) there is no parent or legal guardian in the United States; or (ii) no parent or legal guardian in the United States is available to provide care and physical custody.
Under that definition, only alien minors without parents or legal guardians here are considered UACs, but nonetheless the federal government — and DHS in particular, lumps plenty of kids with parents and guardians here illegally in as UACs, too.
https://cis.org/Arthur/DOJ-Sues-Migrant-Child-Center-Sexual-Abuse-and-Harassment
