Southwest Key, the so-called “non-profit” contracted by the Trump administration to detain migrant children, keeps telling parents who wish to reunite with a soon-to-be-released child that they have to book airfare for their kids through one “tiny” travel agency located in Georgia, and no one can figure out why. Southwest Key doesn’t have a contract with Copacabana Travel Management. There are travel agencies all over the country to book through, but time and time again, parents say Southwest Key has said Copacabana “was the only way to coordinate tickets. It was mandatory.”
The government forces sponsors or parents of children who can be released to U.S. homes to pay exorbitant fees to cover not just the kids’ airfare, but the airfare of their escorts as well. This requirement, however, can be waived. But numerous parents and advocates have told Texas Monthly that Southwest Key told them they had to book through Copacabana—and it was not a choice. One dad said the agency quoted $1,030 to fly his son to him, which he could not afford. “He asked Southwest Key if he could make travel arrangements without using Copacabana. According to Adolfo, Southwest Key said he could not.”
Southwest Key representatives “said they were unsure why anyone would have gotten the impression that they had to use Copacabana. They blamed Adolfo’s situation on a misunderstanding.” But other parents have told Texas Monthly that they’ve still been told they have to use the agency. Advocates for the parents say Copacabana doesn’t have a website and that there’s no working voicemail during weekends. One said that when she called, “they just said, ‘Hello?’ Not, like, ‘This is Copacabana, how can I help you?’”
Copacabana might not be leaving much of a paper trail, but Southwest Key has left one that has long merited the termination of their federal contract. Top executives are getting huge paychecks as the “non-profit” has tens of millions in cash stockpiled. Numerous Southwest Key employees have been arrested and charged with child molestation. The company has also been forced to give up licenses for two of its Arizona facilities after failing to show proof of background checks for employees. And, for some reason, the company keeps insisting on sending business to Copacabana, and no one will fess up as to why. There’s some shady stuff going on. Maybe it’s time to follow the money trail.