[8] In the late 1980s, Sanchez helped a colleague, Ruben Gallegos, set up a nonprofit organization, International Educational Services, to house immigrants in Brownsville, Texas.

Under a contract signed in June 2018, its total grant revenue for immigrant youth shelters will reach $458 million for the fiscal year.

[12] In 2016, Southwest Key Programs' CEO Juan Sanchez was paid a base salary of $770,860 and received additional compensation for a retirement policy, under the direction of the Board of Directors, who work with outside auditors to evaluate all executive pay.

[10] An ex-employee, Antar Davidson, said in June 2018 that employees were told to tell crying siblings, traumatized because they were just separated from their parents, that they weren't allowed to hug and comfort each other.

[16] Amid the criticism that Southwest Key faced, CEO Juan Sanchez penned an op-ed about the reasons he founded the organization.

[31] The facility in which the care worker was employed was cited in 2017 for failing to complete background checks for its employees to ensure that no one had previously committed sex offenses and other crimes.

[31] The accused worker had been working at Southwest Key's Casa Kokopelli shelter for almost four months without a complete background check, though those documents did not show any previous arrests or convictions for sex offenses, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services officials, Pro Publica reports.

[8] In July 2024, the United States Department of Justice sued Southwest Key, alleging over 100 incidents of sexual abuse or harassment, some dating back to 2015.

[7] In February 2019, chief financial officer Melody Chung resigned, following an investigation by the New York Times into Southwest Key's management and finances.