Several employees at the largest provider of shelters for unaccompanied migrant children in the U.S. sexually abused and molested minors in their care, the Justice Department charged in a lawsuit filed this week.

The lawsuit, filed in the Western District of Texas, alleges a “pattern” of “severe or pervasive sexual abuse” dating back to at least 2015 at a network of shelters run by the nonprofit. Southwest Key, Texas.which enters into an agreement with the federal government to care for immigrants who arrive in the country without parents or legal guardians.

The complaint includes alleged cases of “rape and brutal sexual assaultrequests for sexual acts, requests for nude photographs, calls for inappropriate sexual relations, sexual comments and gestures.”

Southwest Key did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Ministry of Justice stated that Southwest Key failed to protect children in its care and failed to consistently follow federal requirements to prevent, detect, and report abuse.

In a 2022 case detailed in the complaint, a Southwest Key employee allegedly repeatedly sexually abused a 5-year-old, 8-year-old and 11-year-old girl at Casa Franklin in El Paso, Texas.

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The 8-year-old girl said the employee threatened to kill their families if they exposed the abuse, the complaint says.

In another case in 2020, an officer took away a 15-year-old boy. Kokopelli House in Arizona to a hotel room for several days and paid him for sexual acts. In both cases, the abuse was documented in Southwest Key’s own reports, according to the lawsuit.

“Sexual abuse of children in residential care settings where a child should be safe and protected is abusive, inhumane and illegal,” Deputy Attorney General Kristen Clarke said in a statement Thursday.

Southwest Key operates 29 shelters that provide temporary housing for unaccompanied children in Texas, Arizona and California through grants from the Department of Health and Human Services.

Migrant children who arrive at the border unaccompanied are housed by the government and then released to guardians in the United States, usually parents or close relatives.

Under President Joe Biden, who is running for re-election against Republican Donald Trump, there have been record numbers of migrants crossing the border.

More than 500,000 unaccompanied minors arrived at the border between the United States and Mexico from fiscal year 2021 through June this year, according to U.S. government data. (Reuters)