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- Mar 22, 2015
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Shocking violence casts shadow over federal Job Corps program
WASHINGTON – The last minutes of Jose Santos Amaya Guardado’s young life were hell.
The 17-year-old was lured into the woods by three of his classmates at the federally funded Homestead Job Corps in Florida. Outside the live-in vocational school, the students pulled out a machete, police say, and began to hack away at him.
As he lay in a pool of his own blood, the attackers threw him in a shallow grave and set him on fire, authorities say. Accused ringleader Kaheem Arbelo, 20, allegedly marked the moment by having sex in the woods with student Desiray Strickland, 18.
The Labor Department, which runs the national program, quickly came out after the June murder and said it was "deeply concerned about the tragic death at the Homestead center.”
But critics say conditions at the live-in learning centers have been deteriorating for decades. And they say Guardado’s brutal murder -- which is renewing scrutiny of those conditions -- could have been prevented.
Government watchdogs have issued multiple warnings for years about the escalation in violent crime at Job Corps -- the $1.6 billion antipoverty program launched during President Lyndon Johnson’s tenure to provide free vocational training for low-income students. The program, which was once seen as a safe harbor for teens in high-risk areas, has seen a disturbing spike in documented cases of violence as well as reports that those in charge looked the other way as dangerous conditions developed.
A 2015 inspector general report flagged “continuing deficiencies” in enforcement and oversight, suggesting trouble students were wrongly allowed to stay in the program.
“[C]enters kept potentially dangerous students in the program, exposing other students and staff to avoidable harm and preventing more committed at-risk youth from utilizing the training slots,” the 2015 IG report found.
In the latest case, Arbelo, who was arrested in August for the machete murder, was a suspected drug dealer at the school with a long rap sheet. Jonathan Lucas, 18; Christian Colon, 19; and Strickland also were arrested and charged.
Judicial Watch said the murder and other recent crimes are part of a "much broader problem" and alleged the program has become a "mismanaged hotbed of violence."
WASHINGTON – The last minutes of Jose Santos Amaya Guardado’s young life were hell.
The 17-year-old was lured into the woods by three of his classmates at the federally funded Homestead Job Corps in Florida. Outside the live-in vocational school, the students pulled out a machete, police say, and began to hack away at him.
As he lay in a pool of his own blood, the attackers threw him in a shallow grave and set him on fire, authorities say. Accused ringleader Kaheem Arbelo, 20, allegedly marked the moment by having sex in the woods with student Desiray Strickland, 18.
The Labor Department, which runs the national program, quickly came out after the June murder and said it was "deeply concerned about the tragic death at the Homestead center.”
But critics say conditions at the live-in learning centers have been deteriorating for decades. And they say Guardado’s brutal murder -- which is renewing scrutiny of those conditions -- could have been prevented.
Government watchdogs have issued multiple warnings for years about the escalation in violent crime at Job Corps -- the $1.6 billion antipoverty program launched during President Lyndon Johnson’s tenure to provide free vocational training for low-income students. The program, which was once seen as a safe harbor for teens in high-risk areas, has seen a disturbing spike in documented cases of violence as well as reports that those in charge looked the other way as dangerous conditions developed.
A 2015 inspector general report flagged “continuing deficiencies” in enforcement and oversight, suggesting trouble students were wrongly allowed to stay in the program.
“[C]enters kept potentially dangerous students in the program, exposing other students and staff to avoidable harm and preventing more committed at-risk youth from utilizing the training slots,” the 2015 IG report found.
In the latest case, Arbelo, who was arrested in August for the machete murder, was a suspected drug dealer at the school with a long rap sheet. Jonathan Lucas, 18; Christian Colon, 19; and Strickland also were arrested and charged.
Judicial Watch said the murder and other recent crimes are part of a "much broader problem" and alleged the program has become a "mismanaged hotbed of violence."
