Thread by @HMAesq

I am *livid.* And I want you to be, too.

Ask yourself whether you want to be part of a country that carelessly allows children to be preyed on by violent sexual predators.

On 9/20, I filed a public records request with @AZDHS to which I have received a partial response.

I sought documents in connection with very disturbing allegations of child abuse - including sexual abuse - at so-called "migrant child centers" operated by Southwest Key Program, Inc. (@SouthwestKey).

Even though as an immigration lawyer, I've been to the border, represented children like this for years, and have spent an unhealthy amount of time studying the origins of policies that allow it, I am livid.

SWK enjoys tax-free nonprofit status, and was paid $458 million of our tax dollars in FY2018. (Silence from those crying about the costs of illegal immigration.)

azcentral.com/story/news/pol…

The Texas Tribune reported its CEO Juan Sánchez (who earns a salary of $1.5 million) failed to disclose his 33% stake in one of SWK's properties.

The longer the kids stay at SWK, the more SWK earns. The private prison complex and all.

texastribune.org/2018/09/29/san…

SWK's mission statement is "opening doors to opportunity so individuals can achieve their dreams." But it's not dreams behind open doors. It's nightmares behind closed doors.

Out of 13 SWK facilities in Arizona, 10 were found to have serious deficiencies as of 8.23, ranging from overcrowding, accessibility to poisonous chemicals, lack of privacy curtains, bathrooms without doors, and a lack of clean bill of health for personnel. See attached:

But what prompted the hundreds of hours of investigation were allegations of sexual abuse. On September 7, SWK worker Levian Pacheco, who was HIV+, was convicted of 10 counts of sex acts against the children he was tasked to "care" for.

fronterasdesk.org/content/696403…

Wat emerges in the responses I got from AZDHS is that of a company that just doesn't care.

The biggest problem? Active employees who didn't have a criminal background check completed. What kind of childcare facility can't be bothered to see if an employee is a sex offender?

I'll tell you: one that doesn't care. SWK isn't a childcare center; it's a jail. Except the prisoners have committed no crime. AZDHS was initially hopeful, as director Dr. Christ wrote to AZ Governor Ducey on 8/23, that SWK was sincere in wanting to fix their deficiencies.

A month later, however, Dr. Christ wrote a scathing letter to SWK, which I am sharing here. Dr. Christ minced no words, telling SWK the report it provided "demonstrates [your] inability and unwillingness to comprehend Arizona's most basic licensure laws." Read the entire letter:

Since this letter, one of SWK's facilities has closed. Because of *yet another* allegation of sexual abuse. Not by AZDHS, but by the US Dept of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

AZDHS had already moved to revoke the licenses of all 13 SWK facilities.

azcentral.com/story/news/pol…

Who are we? Why are we allowing children who are already traumatized, separated from their parents, incarcerated, and thrown into the arms of a predator to be groped, sodomized, and scarred for the rest of their lives?

THEY ARE CHILDREN.

#RememberInNovember