The private company that is federally contracted to run the unlicensed prison camp for migrant children in Homestead, Florida, has abandoned its plan to go public. “The Virginia-based Caliburn International Corp. said in a letter Tuesday to the Securities and Exchange Commission that the company will no longer conduct a planned public offering,” the Miami Herald reported. “It had planned to sell up to $100 million in stock.”
And continue making money off the misery of brown children. Caliburn’s Comprehensive Health Services currently runs Homestead, the largest children’s detention facility in the nation, at nearly 1,600 kids. Advocates who have visited the prison camp have described cold rooms where children are packed “like sardines” in rows of bunk beds. Some children they spoke to burst into tears, describing how they’re not allowed to hug one another.
Immigrant rights advocates have targeted companies profiting from the mass detention of immigrants. In another recent victory, JPMorgan Chase announced that it would sever ties with the private prison industry following a campaign from advocates. CBS Miami reports that, while Caliburn (which has ties to John Kelly, Donald Trump’s former chief of staff) blamed “’variability in the equity markets’ … previous filings cited risks of ‘negative publicity’ as something that could affect share price.” Speaking out can work.
Children do not belong in detention, period, nor should anyone profit when circumstances don’t otherwise permit the release of a child who is in U.S. custody. “We are part of the money that is placed in these corporations at the expense of the suffering of our families,” said immigrant rights advocate Maria Asunción Bilbao. “Every day these children are here, these companies make money. It’s disgusting.” Homestead needs to be shut down.