More than 20,000 pages of records released through federal litigation indicate that migrant children detained at the now-closed Homestead detention center in South Florida were housed near multiple sources of toxic contamination, including arsenic and lead, without any documented environmental assessment before the facility opened.
The documents, made public after a lawsuit brought by Earthjustice on behalf of the American Friends Service Committee, show the Homestead facility operated next to Homestead Air Reserve Base, a Superfund site, where children as young as six were also exposed to frequent F-16 fighter jet noise and, according to the advocacy groups, instances of sexual abuse.
The litigation concluded last week after the federal government agreed to pay the plaintiffs' legal fees, as Truthout reports. The Air Force declined to comment, while the Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services also declined to comment.
According to the records, the detention center operated without evaluating or remediating environmental hazards despite being located near 16 contamination sources. The contaminants identified have been linked to developmental harm, cancer and damage to the kidneys, liver and immune system, while prolonged aircraft noise has been associated with cognitive and developmental impacts in children.
The documents also indicate that some children housed at the facility had been separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border rather than arriving as unaccompanied minors.
The Homestead center, which opened in 2016 and at one point held more than 3,700 children before closing in 2019, fits what advocates describe as a broader pattern of placing immigration detention facilities in environments that raise health and safety concerns.
"We don't think that happened here, and we don't ever want to see that happen again," said Tania Galloni, managing attorney for Earthjustice's Florida office, referring to environmental health protections.
The newly released records come as scrutiny of immigration detention conditions in Florida continues. The Guardian reported Wednesday that ICE has sought emergency court orders to force-feed at least 10 immigrant hunger strikers since early 2025, including detainees protesting conditions inside detention centers. Medical experts interviewed by the newspaper described prolonged force-feeding through nasogastric tubes as potentially traumatic, while ICE did not respond to requests for comment.
Separately, WLRN reported last week that detainees at Miami's Federal Detention Center have continued to allege inadequate medical care, extreme heat, malfunctioning toilets, flooding and poor food quality.
The accounts, shared through recorded phone calls with family members, echo findings in a 2025 Human Rights Watch report that described conditions at several South Florida immigration detention facilities as "abusive, degrading, and in some cases life-threatening."
