'Morally bankrupt system': House Democrats tour Florida prison camp for migrant children
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Campaign Action A group of House Democrats who visited an unlicensed prison camp for migrant children in Homestead, Florida, described meeting kids who have been jailed there for as long as nine months. “I did not see criminals, I did not see gang member'Morally bankrupt system': House Democrats tour Florida prison camp for migrant children
Campaign Action A group of House Democrats who visited an unlicensed prison camp for migrant children in Homestead, Florida, described meeting kids who have been jailed there for as long as nine months. “I did not see criminals, I did not see gang members,” said Florida Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, who led the delegation with Congressional Hispanic Caucus chair Joaquin Castro of Texas. She was overwhelmed. “I saw kids who have hope … that this country will welcome them.” Nearly 1,600 children are currently jailed at the privately run facility, which advocates say is operating without a license because it’s supposedly a “temporary” facility. The former prison camp for kids in Tornillo, Texas, opened last June and was supposed to last just one month. Its operations stretched out for months until this year, and it shut down mired in allegations that administration officials lied to Congress about background checks for prison camp employees. Officials have now tried to paint an orderly picture at Comprehensive Health Services-operated Homestead, saying kids have talent shows and movie nights during the weekends. But other advocates who have visited described meeting children who burst into tears describing how they’re not allowed to hug one another. A prison camp for kids is still a prison camp for kids. “As a mother it was very difficult to watch,” Mucarsel-Powell said. “It has a prison-like feel.” While officials say that all the children at Homestead are unaccompanied minors, or kids who came to the U.S. alone, some actually came with a relative and were then torn from them. “If they came with an uncle, an aunt, an older brother or sister, they’re not considered separated,” said Rep. Sylvia Garcia of Texas. “We spoke with a number of kids and they all said they said they came with someone. But they were separated, so it’s still happening.” Family separation remains a crisis. Read more