A group of House Democrats representing Florida is calling on the Health and Human Services watchdog to probe the “hush-hush,” no-bid $341 million dollar contract that was recently given to the company operating the unlicensed prison camp for migrant children in the state. “The award came as Gen. John Kelly, President Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, was joining the advisory board of the operator’s parent company,” the Miami Herald reports.
Comprehensive Health Services, which is owned by parent company Caliburn, operates the prison camp, which has recently been expanded to jail as many as 3,200 kids. But despite Homestead’s capacity exploding, Congress members have been illegally blocked by the Trump administration from conducting their oversight duties.
Now, following the recent news of the renewed contract—and a former presidential chief of staff profiting off his former administration’s racist policies—legislators want answers. ”While the original contract for operation of the Homestead shelter was secured by CHS in a competitive bidding process,” Reps. Donna Shalala, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and Debbie Mucarsel-Powell wrote to the HHS inspector general, “this new contract was offered to CHS behind closed doors on a no-bid basis.”
“Furthermore,” they continued, “we want to better understand General John Kelly’s role in the new contract negotiations and seek clarity on Kelly’s engagement and influence in the process. We find it troubling that General Kelly’s tenure in the administration led to a dramatic increase in both the number of children held at the Homestead facility and the duration of time that accompanied children are being kept in government custody.”
Under legislation actually signed into law by Donald Trump, members of Congress can visit these facilities to conduct their constitutional oversight responsibilities; but when a number of Florida representatives attempted to do just that in April, they were illegally blocked by Homestead staff, who reportedly said they needed to provide “two weeks’ notice” first. Sorta undermines that whole surprise inspection thing to make sure kids aren’t being abused and mistreated.
Officials have tried to portray Homestead in an almost summer camp-like light, complete with movie nights and talent shows, but the legislators who have visited the prison camp, which jails mostly minors who came to the U.S. alone, have described it as “prison-like.” It is. Children do not belong in detention, period. “I did not see criminals, I did not see gang members,” Rep. Mucarsel-Powell said in February. “I saw kids who have hope … that this country will welcome them.”