What to Know
- The Homestead facility has drawn officials from both sides of the political aisle and was attended by many prominent Democrats last month.
A South Florida member of Congress led a group of fellow representatives on a tour of the Homestead facility housing undocumented immigrant teens that has drawn national attention in the growing immigration debate.
Democratic Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell was among those who toured the facility Saturday – a facility she had been denied entry to before during several previous visits. The first term representative said the facility now houses 600 teens, just under one quarter of the amount that was there a month ago.
“In two weeks apparently, they were able to move more than 1400 kids,” Mucarsel-Powell said at an afternoon press conference outside the facility. “Which is surprising to me since I’ve been asking for these kids to be reunified with their families since February.”
Mucarsel-Powell and those in attendance say they still have questions – including saying they have yet to see where those teens that were released have gone in an effort to make sure they went to appropriate family members.
“We have to come to a point of reckoning,” Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Democrat from Texas, said. “We have to look ourselves in the mirror, and understand how much of this is caused by our own policies and by the Trump Administration’s policies.”
The Homestead facility has drawn officials from both sides of the political aisle and was attended by many prominent Democrats, in town for the Presidential debates last month in Miami, who have called for its closure.
