The prison camp for migrant children in Homestead, Florida, is the largest such detention facility in the nation—and it is reportedly operating illegally. A group of attorneys and advocates who have permission to inspect all children’s detention facilities in the U.S. as part of a years-old court agreement say that roughly a dozen facilities “failed to produce licenses when inspected,” including Homestead.
"We have a team of over 250 lawyers, doctors and paralegals visiting these places. We've interviewed hundreds of detained children. We think there are violations across the board,” said attorney Peter Schey. He said that he informed the Department of Justice’s Office of Immigration Litigation of the violations last month. So far, the DOJ has declined to comment, but it’s only 10,000 kids in Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) custody, right? "Their whole program is in total violation and they must know that,” Schey said.
According to CBS News reports, a letter the lawyers sent to the DOJ alleges that the ORR has delayed background checks for potential sponsors and discouraged others by relaying information to Immigration and Customs Enforcement—a practice repeatedly condemned by advocates—and that the ORR fails “to notify children and their parents of their rights related to securing children’s release from the facilities.” Children do not belong in detention, period, and the Trump administration is making that all the more obvious for everyone.
Homestead had the dishonor of replacing Tornillo, Texas, as the nation’s largest jail for migrant children after Tornillo shut down just weeks ago following months of intense public scrutiny and a blockbuster report revealing that a top Trump official had waived FBI background checks for employees tasked with supervising these kids. CBS notes that “Schey said he is preparing to file a motion in the coming days, alleging numerous violations of the Flores Agreement from the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services.”
