Though media has slowly pulled back on their coverage of the Homestead Detention Center, protesters are still gathering at the facility everyday. Not only protestors, but 2020 presidential candidates have also visited the facility as a way to gain some more support and attention in lieu of the election.
I spent two days at the center, talking to immigration advocates, watching presidential candidates and congressmen and women speak, and observing the facility and its dynamics. In those couple days, I learned that no one really knows what goes on in that facility- and if they do, then they're not really talking about it. The people of congress that are able to take a tour of the establishment walk out only to tell the press that they're disgusted- none of them mention any specific aspects, while protestors spit "facts" based on hearsay.
Here are some facts about Homestead, in their truest and most unbiased form:
It is a for-profit facility
The private company that has control over Homestead is running on behalf of the federal government. It costs about $775 per child.
There are increasing reports of strep and influenza
Congresswoman Wilson said that while she was in the facility, she was told that many children were reported with having strep throat and/or influenza- and these numbers are increasing.
Many of the children have legal family members in the US
Not only do they have these relatives, but they also have their numbers and are trying to get in contact with them.
The day a child turns 18, he/she is sent to ICE
On their eighteenth birthday, the newly young adult is placed in shackles and deported to an adult detention facility, where they are imprisoned.
Migrants are let out everyday
While the length to which these children are held in the establishment is unknown- the facility says 20 days, but children have been known to be there for months- the center does release many migrants everyday.
