HOMESTEAD, Fla. _ A large delegation of Democratic members of Congress has arrived and will visit the Homestead shelter on Monday to see the conditions under which thousands of migrant children are being held.
The visit is part of the ongoing struggle over immigration policy between Democrats who control the House of Representatives and President Donald Trump.
Congressional Democrats and the president are at odds over the Trump administration's strict policies at the southern U.S. border and the conditions under which people who come to the U.S. illegally or to seek asylum are being held. Democrats argue the conditions are inhumane; the Trump administration argues they're better than portrayed by critics.
Monday's visit to Homestead is under the auspices of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and its chairwoman, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn.
Among the 11 lawmakers listed as planning to attend are three Floridians on the Appropriations Committee: U.S. Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston; Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach; and Charlie Crist, D-St. Petersburg. Also on the list is the powerful Appropriations Chairwoman, Nita Lowey, D-N.Y.
On July 24, the appropriations subcommittee plans a hearing on the Office of Refugee Resettlement's program for unaccompanied children. The subcommittee has jurisdiction over the office, which is responsible to safely and quickly place children with sponsors.
"Congress has a moral responsibility to conduct oversight and ensure children in our care are being taken care of. That responsibility is heightened given the Trump Administration's history of abuse toward children and families seeking refuge in the United States," DeLauro said in a statement in advance of Homestead visit.
"Too often, standards of care have been ignored, and children have languished in warehouse-like situations for months without being put into a sponsor's care. And many kids recently had their access to education, legal services, and recreational activities cut. That is wrong, and it is not how we should be treating kids in the United States," she said. "The Trump Administration needs to be held accountable to do the right thing, and we will make sure that happens."
The Homestead temporary influx shelter is the only for-profit child detention center in the country, Frankel's office said.
It is operated by Comprehensive Health Services, a contractor of the Department of Health and Human Services.
It houses approximately 2,000 children ages 13 to 17 years old. The shelter recently expanded its capacity to 2,470 beds, Crist's office said, and there are plans for expansion to more than 3,000. It opened during the Obama administration, closed briefly and was reopened in March 2018.
Wasserman Schultz and U.S. Reps. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, Donna Shalala and Frederica Wilson, have been visiting the shelter, monitoring conditions, and criticizing its operations for months.
At times they've had trouble getting access but have been allowed inside during other attempts to visit.
The shelter received lots of attention last month when 20 Democratic presidential candidates were in Miami for two nights of debates. More than half the candidates visited Homestead and criticized Trump Administration policies. None of the presidential candidates got inside to see the operation.
Comprehensive Health Services has said conditions in the shelter are good, and not inhumane.
In an interview Friday with Fox News, Russell Black, president of Latin Impact Ministries in Homestead, predicted the congressional delegation would be pleasantly surprised by what it finds at the shelter. He volunteers there and his organization conducts religious services there on Saturday mornings.
"It's actually been overwhelmingly surprising how good the care is at the shelter," Black said, adding that he sees the people operating the shelter making sure that the children's stays there are "as painless and pleasant as possible. ... The care they receive there is phenomenal."
On Monday, the congressional delegation plans to tour the shelter, see the living conditions, and, according to Frankel's office, hopes to speak with the children held there.
"It's critical we continue shining a bright light on the treatment of migrants by the U.S. government," Crist said in a statement. "No human being in our custody should ever endure the conditions that have been exposed in recent weeks at U.S.-run migrant detention facilities."
