HOMESTEAD, Fla. – The Homestead detention center that housed thousands of migrant children since 2018 will be closing.
The company operating the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children will not have its contract renewed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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The federal agency said Monday it has reduced bed capacity from 1,200 to zero. About 2,000 workers were being let go.
Democratic candidates visited the Miami-area facility during campaign stops, attacking President Donald Trump's administration for holding children in a cramped detention center run by a company tied to former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.
Comprehensive Health Services Inc. was awarded a no-bid contract for $341 million earlier this year.
"I am relieved to hear the Trump administration is shutting down yet another for-profit child detention camp, thanks to pressure from Democrats in Congress, especially South Florida members, and the immigrant advocacy community," U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., said in a statement. "But this for-profit abomination should never have been opened. Steering millions of taxpayer dollars into a poorly regulated and inadequately-staffed facility was cruel and irresponsible, not to mention ethically troubling, given former-Trump Chief of Staff John Kelly's position on the board of directors."
Wasserman Schultz said she'll continue to monitor the facility "to ensure that it stays closed."
"I will also continue to push legislation that expedites family reunification and sponsor placement," she said. "This is welcome news today, but the fight to hold this administration accountable for its brutal anti-immigrant agenda continues."