Youth Care Worker Charged With Molesting 8 Immigrant Boys At Arizona Shelter

[appalachiablue]

Source: Think Progress

Unfortunately, he's not the first. A youth care worker employed by Southwest Key, a federally contracted nonprofit in charge of caring for thousands of immigrant children, has been charged with 11 sex offenses at Casa Kokopelli, one of the company's shelters in Mesa, Arizona, according to federal court records obtained by ProPublica.

The records show that from August 2016 and July 2017, Levian Pacheco molested at least eight immigrant boys between the ages of 15 and 17 who crossed the southern border into the United States unaccompanied. The allegations against Pacheco, who is HIV-positive, include that he performed oral sex on two of the immigrant teenagers and tried to force the other to penetrate him anally. The remaining six teens said the employee groped them through their clothing.

The case is currently making its way through a U.S. District Court in Phoenix, Arizona with Pacheco's trial set for August 28. Casa Kokopelli had previously been cited by the Arizona Department of Health Services in 2017 for failing to complete background checks, including fingerprinting to see if an employee had a previous history of sex crimes or other criminal behavior. Pacheco reportedly worked at Casa Kokopelli for almost four months without a complete background check. When completed, his background check came back clear of any previous arrests, convictions, or sex offenses.

Lax background checks at shelters for migrant children, including those operated by Southwest Key, are reportedly a common occurrence. As a former employee at one of the company's eight Arizona facilities told ProPublica, "You could say, 'Oh I babysit my sister' and they'd hire you.'"....More...

Read more: https://thinkprogress.org/youth-care-worker-charged-with-molesting-8-immigrant-boys-at-arizona-shelter-cf19b5d24e6b/

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Another youth care worker at an Arizona Southwest Key facility was arrested for allegedly sexually abusing a teenage girl Aug. 1. https://thinkprogress.org/employee-at-immigrant-shelter-in-arizona-arrested-for-allegedly-sexually-abusing-teen-girl-7c73f67e2ac3/

Related: 'If You're A Predator, It's A Gold Mine': Inside the abusive immigrant youth shelters. According to logs obtained by ProPublica, some immigrant youth shelters are a hotbed of sexual abuse. Think Progress, July 27, 2018.
https://thinkprogress.org/sexual-abuse-inside-immigrant-youth-shelters-dd54367fe3e4/

'Immigrant Fathers and Sons Strike to Protest Family Separations at Texas Detention Facility, They say they were being "treated like animals." Think Progress, Aug. 1, 2018.
https://thinkprogress.org/texas-detention-facility-immigrant-fathers-and-sons-strike-family-separation-6ccdfeccd4e5/



- Southwest Key Combes houses "tender age" immigrant children who have been separated from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border, in Harlingen, Texas.

[Honeycombe8]

1. Aw, geez. The permanent damage done to these children.

Trump is directly responsible for this...the other Republicans are indirectly responsible. This is just horrible.

[oberliner]

11. This began in August 2016

According to the article.

[Harker]

16. I think a whole lot of people

are directly responsible for this in addition to Trumpsky.

[Judi Lynn]

2. So damned sad. If only those young people's minds could be returned to them without these memories.

They deserve to live their lives undefiled. Why should anyone have that power over them?

Thanks, republican racist haters. It couldn't have happened without your barbaric abuse of your fellow man/woman through your hatred.

[LisaL]

19. Could be more consequences than just memories.

He is HIV positive.

[Stuart G]

3. Horrible...and very sad..k and r..

[Ilsa]

4. He needs to be working in the White House. nt

[Wwcd]

6. + a million.

Sad but true.

[Wwcd]

5. Time to haul SW Key in on criminal chgs.

Considering they operate many such facilities across the US, & the CEO & his wife have cut themselves a taxpayer funded check for 1 million + each year.

They don't give a shit about the kids nor who they hire as long as the Govt keeps renewing their Contract.

[RockRaven]

7. Drag everyone connected to SW Key up to NorCal and throw 'em in the fire tornado.

Good riddance with these sickos.

[truthisfreedom]

8. Trump himself should be held responsible for these offenses

Byt since he won’t, campaign ads have to hold ALL repukes accountable. I don’t care how vicious these ads are. All t**m* repukes must be held responsible.

[oberliner]

12. This began in August 2016

According to the article.

[oberliner]

13. The abuse predates Trump

Sadly.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

15. Thanks, got fooled by that once before. Self-deleting. . . . nt

[Kingofalldems]

17. 3rd post in one thread saying the same thing, oberliner.

[oberliner]

18. It is a critical point that too many people overlook

Border abuse is not a new phenomenon - though Trump policies are certainly making things worse.

I strongly encourage you to read the ACLU report on the subject if this is a topic that is of importance to you.

[appalachiablue]

10. This system is corrupt & criminal. Just two days ago, an HHS official

and a trained clinical social worker, Jonathan White testified before the Senate warning that families separated at the border "could have a traumatic affect on the children."

"An official at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the government agency tasked with looking after families separated at the border due to the Trump administration’s now-reversed “zero tolerance” policy, says he warned others in the administration that family separation could have a traumatic affect on the children.

Jonathan White, an executive director in the office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday about the family separation crisis. The former deputy director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) and a trained clinical social worker, White said he was involved in multiple discussions about immigration policies that could result in the separation of families throughout the course of a year and repeatedly “raised a number of concerns… about any policy which would result in family separation.” READ MORE,

'HHS official says he warned about the trauma family separation would cause and was ignored. The administration moved forward with the policy anyway.' Think Progress, July 31, 2018.
https://thinkprogress.org/official-warned-about-trauma-trump-family-separation-7250b630198b/

[oberliner]

14. And has been that way for a long time

From the ACLU:

The Border Patrol Was Monstrous Under Obama. Imagine How Bad It Is Under Trump.

Excerpt:

If you assumed this abuse happened during the Trump administration, think again. Jahveel was threatened in 2009 by President Obama’s Border Patrol, and her treatment was not an isolated incident. Her case is part of a pattern of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse by Customs and Border Protection officials against child immigrants that existed long before President Trump emboldened the agency by unleashing its officers to enforce his draconian immigration policies.

We have received more than 30,000 pages of internal government documents detailing this abuse between 2009 and 2014 throughout the southern border region. These records, obtained through an ACLU Freedom of Information Act request and subsequent litigation, offer a glimpse into an immigration enforcement system that had been plagued by brutality and lawlessness long before Trump was elected.

https://www.aclu.org/blog/immigrants-rights/ice-and-border-patrol-abuses/border-patrol-was-monstrous-under-obama-imagine