The Cronyism Angle to the Separation of Kids at the Border $$$$

The Trump administration plans to pay a Texas nonprofit nearly half a billion dollars this year to care for immigrant children who were detained crossing the U.S. border illegally, reports Bloomberg.

The nonprofit, Southwest Key Programs Inc., is to be paid more than $458 million in fiscal 2018, according to the data -- the most among the organizations, government agencies and companies that run a detention and care system for immigrant children on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services.

In 2010, Southwest CEO Juan Sanchez earned $269,000, in 2015 more than $786,000 and in 2016 more than $1.5 million.

The federal government paid the group about $286 million in 2017 and $211 million in 2016, according to the ACF data, reports Bloomberg.

Bloomberg also notes the potential crony leases on the properties housing the kids:

The former WalMart store in Brownsville that Southwest Key converted into a detention center is owned by a local limited liability corporation, Chacbak LLC, according to property records. The company owns at least one other local building also leased by Southwest Key, a former hospital converted into a detention center for immigrant children in 2013, according to the Brownsville Herald.

-RW