Responding to news that the Homestead facility holding unaccompanied children is being emptied out, Amnesty International USA researcher for refugee and migrant rights Denise Bell issued the following statement:
“Locking up children in need of safety is cruel and never in their best interest. The children once detained at Homestead who were not already released to sponsors must be reunited with their families as quickly as possible. In the meantime, children should receive care in licensed, small-sized shelters. No child should be detained ever again, let alone in large-scale, highly restricted settings like Homestead for prolonged periods of time. These temporary emergency facilities are never a home for children.”
BACKGROUND
In July 2019, Amnesty USA published a new report detailing conditions at the Homestead facility, which outlines how children at Homestead are detained for extended periods of time and given inadequate care.