A development in East Austin has caused a rift in the city's Hispanic community.
Southwest Key Properties plans to house its corporate offices in the Govalle/Johnston Terrace neighborhood, as well as a community center and a charter school. The nonprofit primarily serves the Hispanic community.
Charter schools are publicly funded schools that offer a non-traditional learning environment. That's a good fit for Southwest Key, which provides community-based treatment programs for troubled youth as an alternative to incarceration.
Southwest Key is asking the city of Austin for $800,000 to complete the project, which will be a 30,000-square foot facility on seven acres for a total cost of $6.1 million.
But the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, is urging the city to deny the funding request. They say Southwest Key operates juvenile detention centers for immigrants.
 |  |
 | |  |
| | | | | | | |
Shelter or detention center?
Two groups with deep roots in the
Hispanic community are at odds over
funding the project in East Austin.
 
| | |
| | | | | |
|
"Southwest Key representatives try to claim they are not detaining immigrants, that they operate a shelter. Well, the truth is, who cares what you call it? These individuals are not free to leave those facilities. We as Latinos should not support any corporation that is in the business of denying human rights and civil rights to individuals," Rita Gonzales-Garza of LULAC said.
Others LULAC members don't share Gonzales-Garza's view and came out in support of Southwest Key.
"We are ashamed of the stance LULAC District 7 headed by Rita Garza has taken against East Austin. Because it's not just against Southwest Key. It is a stance against East Austin," Susana Almanza of PODER said.
Gonzales-Garza claims that Southwest Key's "primary business" is the detention/imprisonment of unaccompanied immigrant minors, apprehended by Immigration Customs and Enforcement.
"This is the fallacy. They want to equate us with what's happening at [T. Don Hutto.] Hutto is a prison. It's a detention facility. That's what it is. It's run by a private prison corporation. Southwest Key is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to take care of kids and reunify them with their families," Juan Sanchez of Southwest Key said.
Southwest Key operates eight shelters for unaccompanied immigrant minors. The program is under the umbrella of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (specifically managed by the Office of Refugee Resettlement).
The City Council discussed Southwest Key's funding request at their meeting, but there is no word on that decision yet.
