Mayor opposes downtown facility housing separated migrant children

You may have never heard of Austin-based Southwest Key Programs.

They house migrant children in 16 residential facilities in Texas, several right here in Houston.

The non-profit wants to use an empty homeless shelter to house even more migrant kids.

“We play no role in detaining or separating families,” said Southwest Key spokesman Jeff Eller.

But does Southwest Key disagree with the practice of federal agents separating families?

Mayor Sylvester Turner says he asked Southwest Key President Dr. Juan Sanchez and two other executives with the nonprofit that question. The mayor says they refused to answer.

Southwest Key denies taking advantage of President Trump’s zero tolerance policy for money.

“We’re doing today exactly what we’ve done under the last three administrations under a contract that was competitively vetted and a competitive price,” said Eller.

Southwest Key makes more money housing migrant children detained at the border than any other organization in the Lone Star State.

Sanchez is one of the highest paid presidents of a nonprofit in the country.

He saw his almost $800,000 salary in 2015 nearly double to almost $1.5 million in a year’s time.

Recently, Southwest Key was awarded almost a billion federal dollars to house migrant children.

“It’s approximately $995 million a year for that three-year program so about $330 million a year for all 27 of our shelters,” Eller said.

Mayor Turner says he’ll do whatever it takes to stop Southwest Key from housing immigrant children at the empty shelter on Emancipation.

If Southwest Key and the property owners proceed with their plans, the mayor says city departments will conduct meticulous permitting inspections of the unused building to see if it can be used to house children.