A charity that runs shelters for children separated from their parents when they cross the US border illegally has attempted to justify its CEO's $1.5 million salary.

Juan Sanchez, the head of Southwest Key Programs, was paid $1,456,000 in 2016 while his wife Jennifer - as vice president - was paid $280,819 in 2015. His salary doubled from 2015, when it was $786.822.

Southwest has received nearly $1.5 billion in cash over the last 10 years for operating 83 programs across the US, including shelters for children of criminal migrants.

Juan Sanchez (pictured), the head of Southwest Key Programs, was paid $1,456,000 in 2016 while his wife Jennifer - as vice president - was paid $280,819 in 2015. His salary doubled from 2015, when it was $786.822

Southwest has received nearly $1.5 billion in cash over the last 10 years for operating 83 programs across the US, including shelters for children of criminal migrants. Pictured: One of the charity's centers in Brownsville, Texas

Casa Padre, an immigrant shelter for unaccompanied minors, in Brownsville, Texas, which is run by Southwest

It runs about a dozen centers in Texas for the Department of Health and Human Services, Time reports, including a converted WalMart store in Brownsville.

The government is expected to pay Southwest $458 million in 2018.

But despite running such a large operation, CharityWatch president Daniel Borochoff said Sanchez's salary is still unusually large.

He told CNN: 'The head of the American Red Cross receives a $600,000 salary. It's a multi-billion dollar charity. They control half of our blood supply, [they are a] lead disaster provider. You've got this charity [Southwest] - the budget is like a tenth of [the Red Cross's] size.'

Borochoff said his salary is the fifth-highest when compared to over 600 other charities it keeps track of.

Meanwhile Marcus Owens, who was once the head of the IRS's nonprofits division, said: 'The salary is extraordinarily high for a charity, even a large charity.'

The interior of the Casa Padre shelter, in Brownsville, which is operated by Southwest for the Department of Health and Human Services

Southwest runs about a dozen centers in Texas for the Department of Health and Human Services, including a converted WalMart store in Brownsville

He added, however, that the charity's board has the right to decide on its CEO's pay.

A Southwest representative told CNN Sanchez's salary was calculated based on the charity's revenue and an analysis of other non-profits.

The charity also released a list of 40 charity CEOs' salaries to show, it claimed, that he is paid within a normal range.

His salary was the third-highest on the list, behind the chiefs of the Museum of Modern Art in New York ($2.2 million) and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center ($6.7 million).

