Milwaukee ends ties with company that holds migrant children

By: Associated Press//September 27, 2019//

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MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee County is ending a contract with a nonprofit serving troubled youth because the organization is also the largest provider of detention facilities for migrant children in the U.S.

The Department of Health and Human Services said Thursday that Southwest Key provides worthy services, but the county doesn’t want to support a company “that has been party to the treatment of migrant children at the border.”

The Texas-based company Southwest Key has come under fire because of the large-scale separation of children from families under the Trump administration.

Southwest Key’s facility in West Allis serves as an alternative to incarceration for at-risk youth. The company said in response to Milwaukee County’s action that its work hasn’t changed, only “the current dialogue on immigration and the distorted view some have of the services we provide.”

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