Celebrate Closing of Miami Child Detention Center

By MUUSJN on Sunday, August 4th, 2019

CELEBRATE!CHILDREN REMOVED FROM HOMESTEAD FLORIDA DETENTION CENTER

On August 3rd, the last migrant children were removed from the Homestead Immigrant Detention Center near Miami, Florida.  With leadership from the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), UU’s and other people of faith have been signing petitions, holding vigils, contacting members of Congress and protesting at the Detention Center for some time now demanding that this and other prison like detention centers be closed.

According to an article in the August 3rd Miami Times Herald (Click HERE), children were picked up in vans between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m. Saturday August 3rd. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that “all (children) sheltered in the Homestead facility have either been reunified with an appropriate sponsor or transferred to a state-licensed facility within its (Office of Refugee Resettlement) network of care providers as of August 3rd.”

Susan Leslie, the Unitarian Universalists Congregational Advocacy and Witness Director, reported that in its coalition work, other detention camps in Tomillo and Carrizo Springs, Texas have been shut down. Also Ft. Sill, Oklahoma was prevented from becoming a detention camp.  Homestead, reportedly, is the only for profit detention facility for children in the U.S. and has not been subject to state regulations. 

There is still reason for concern about how children will be treated in the state-licensed facilities. All children should be placed with families rather than being warehoused in detention centers. 

CALL TO ACTION

Contact your members of Congress. Ask them to support the Child Prison Camps Act and Families Not Facilities Act.  To send an email to Michigan Senators or your U.S. Representative click HERE to go the AFSC Action Center.  If you’d like to call your Senators and your Representative, click HERE for MUUSJN’s list of Michigan members of Congress. 

This legislation would: 

  1. Prohibit the use of emergency influx facilities like Homestead detention center;
  2. Prohibit the Department of Health and Human Services from sharing information with the Department of Homeland Security that could lead to the detention of family members or other sponsors willing to care for these children. 

 

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