The CEO of a charity that houses migrant kids separated from their families boasted a salary of nearly $1.5 million in 2016, raising eyebrows of industry watchdogs, CNN reports.
Juan Sanchez, founder and head of Southwest Key Programs Inc., had his salary nearly double from $786,822 in 2015 to nearly $1.5 million a year later, according to filings cited by CNN.
"The head of the American Red Cross receives a $600,000 salary," Daniel Borochoff, the president of CharityWatch, told CNN. "It's a multi-billion dollar charity. They control half of our blood supply, lead disaster provider. You've got this charity [Southwest Key], the budget is like a tenth of [the Red Cross'] size."
Southwest Key defends the salary.
"The Board of Directors determines Dr. Sanchez's salary based on a percentage of Southwest Key Programs' annual revenue compared to other nonprofits. An analysis is done annually comparing Dr. Sanchez's salary as a percentage of revenue to CEOs of other nonprofits that provide similar services as well as nonprofits of comparable size based on revenue," a spokesperson told CNN.
Southwest Key provides safe housing for unaccompanied minors, and business is booming, given the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy that resulted in more than 2,000 minors being separated from their parents in just two months.
"We never imagined that we would have this many kids, that we would see the kind of policies we see now," CNN quoted Sanchez.
The charity is expected to rake in about $500 million in federal contracts this year, CNN reports.
Sanchez's wife, Jennifer, also is on the Southwest Key payroll, earning $280,819 in 2015 as vice president, CNN reported.
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