reporter: that history doesn t match with the group s own tax filings. cnn went back to 1997. where sanchez was paid nearly $130,000. nearly every year since except for two gap years showing no income. his salary has increased. that doesn t even include his wife listed as the vice president who in the latest filings made an additional $262,000. mark owens, for ten years, ran the irs department on non-profits, says compensation should be similar to what sanchez could make in the private sector. he sees nothing comparable and questions why the board of southwest key voted to approve sanchez s current compensation. the board can award the president a salary. the issue is going to be whether the internal revenue service or state attorney general believes that s excessive compensation. reporter: the bigger question, says owens, why is this private institution operating under taxpayer funded
mark owens who for ten years ran the irs department says composition should be adequate for what he could make in the private sector. the salary is extraordinarily high. for a charity. even a large charity. a complex organization with a lot of for profit. and tax exempt subsidiaries and the president is making a lot of money. southwest key told us just this afternoon juan sanchez s salary jump coincide with a 400% increase in the number of clients the non-profit is serving and as for the high salary, when compared to ceos of similar sized non-profits, is within a reasonable range. wolf, the spread sheet that southwest key sent us to prove their point actually proves ours. he is one of the top paid ceos of a non-profit in the nation. good reporting. excellent reporting.
about this shelter, how many kids are there, their age range, and anything else you can, because i know there have been some severe restrictions in journalistic access to that facility. reporter: in fact, wolf, we tried to gain access into this very facility on monday and were denied. we re trying to get back in today. this is one of the facilities, the tender age facilities, as they re called, own pd and operated by southwest key. they own and operate two of the three facilities, and they define tender age as being ten years and younger. what that means here is they have infants, at least four infants inside, according to a democratic congressman who got a kour inside. while we were denied access, he was allowed on a tour. i spoke to him about what he saw. there are 80 children at this facility and they re being well taken care of. it s not an ideal situation because they re not with their parents. but in this facility are
salary. it s a multibillion dollar charity. they control half of our blood supply, lead disaster provider. you ve got this charity, the budget is like a tenth of its size, not nearly the size of the responsibilities. so it does appear high. reporter: cnn analyzed nonprofits as large as southwest key and operating under similar classification, and found sanchez paid among the very top. he operates 83 shelters or schools or detention centers across the country. the federal government contracts in the last ten years add up to $1.5 billion. by many accounts, southwest key does provide safe housing to unaccompanied minors. though they have been cited in the past for some violations. in an interview with austin s klru-tv, sanchez said the new trump policy left him inundated with children. we never imagined we would have these many kids. we never imagined we would see the kind of policies that we re
the only signs of the 60 children housed inside. some may have been forcibly separated from their parents after crossing into the country illegally. the u.s. government calls it a tender age facility, one of at least three in texas alone. the ceo of southwest key offered his own description. i want to make it very, very clear that this is not a detention center. we have a licensed by the state of texas to run a child care facility. what we run is a child care facility. reporter: cnn and other media outlets have not been allowed to bring cameras inside any of the facilities. the government has only given this video and some photos showing families behind chain link cages, resting on green sleeping pads and wrapped in mylar blankets. none of the government handout materials show girls. we ve only seen the boys. i will look into that. reporter: cnn spoke to democratic texas congressman who got a rare glimpse inside one of