He knows when to hold the 'em and when to fold.
The nonprofit leader who cashed in $3 billion in grants from the Biden administration and became the largest port operator for immigrant children before President Trump pulled the funds last week is a nationally ranked poker player who has won more than $800,000 prizes.
Ansel Movillarreal, CEO of the Southwest Key Program, boasts a 139% increase in salary over the first three years of Biden's term, boasting a total table revenue of $801,484. Poker Database Website Hendon Mob.
Almost half of Villarreal's pot ($398,541) won between 2021 and 2024 after being appointed president of an Austin, Texas-based nonprofit.
Villarreal, who likes No-Limit Texas Hold'Em, won the first World Series of poker circuit games at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas in May 2006, bringing home $14,667.
Card Sharks won the top three slots in over 12 tournament championships as of 2024.
Villarreal's single big victory took place at Deepstack Extravaganza in February 2021. Global Poker Index -The latter brings his national rank to 13,557th.
At the same time, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) began ousting billions of dollars into the Southwest key, evacuating a record number of unaccompanied immigrant children to the country.
Several executives of the nonprofit have doubled their six-figure salary. By the end of fiscal year 2023, wages for violations had skyrocketed from $491,642 in fiscal year 2021 to $1,174,551.
Other records exclusively obtained by the post reveal that at least 12 other top employees paid 10% to 112% from 2021 to 2022 under former President Joe Biden.
The nonprofit had already been drafted by the HHS office in September 2020. Inspector To inappropriately use taxpayer money to boost wages and bonuses.
Biden's Justice Department sued Southwest Key last July, claiming that employees had sexually abused immigrant children since 2015, but the Trump administration dropped its civil lawsuit last Wednesday, separating the children from 27 shelters in groups in Texas, Arizona and California.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) had previously heard testimony from whistleblowers about living with undiscovered sponsors in the country after leaving the shelter.
Grassley wrote in February 2024 in a letter to Villarreal, stabbing “a ring that could transport children,” Grassley lived in a home with members of the “MS-13” gang at least.
In a statement last Wednesday, HHS said: “Due to continued concerns related to these placements, HHS has decided to halt the placement of unaccompanied alien children at major facilities in the southwest and confirm grants with the organization.”
A group representative who did not respond to a follow-up request for comments announced that they were “pleasant” to dismiss the sexual abuse case, and that they “strongly denied any claims relating to child sexual abuse at our shelter.”
“There is no need for settlements or payments,” a spokesman for Southwest Key said before pointing to the frozen federal funding Trump imposed for 5,000 layoffs at the organization.
Before working for the Southwest Key Program, Villarreal served as president of Lacasa de Esperanza, a waukesha in Wisconsin, where Spanish speakers assisted in personal English tutoring.
His salary in his final year at La Casa, Another HHS grantee$253,282, showing the 2020 tax return.
Previously, Villarreal served as a Wisconsin-based representative for his home country of Mexico's Economic Commission, focusing on issues related to commercial transactions, community reinvestment, consumer protection regulations, consumer credit, financial privacy and security, electronic banking and general financial services, according to the Southwest Key Program website.
