Amnesty International calls for closure of migrant child detention center
Source: The Guardian
Amnesty International calls for closure of migrant child detention center
Detention of several thousand children aged 13 to 17 at Homestead facility in Florida is ‘cruel and unlawful’, human rights group says
Edward Helmore
Thu 18 Jul 2019 01.01 BST Last modified on Thu 18 Jul 2019 01.09 BST
Amnesty International USA has called for a detention center for migrant children in Florida to be closed down and for congressional public hearings to be held into conditions at the facility, which lies near Miami and was recently visited by a slew of 2020 Democratic candidates.
The human rights group said in a new report that the detentions were “cruel and unlawful” and “the disastrous consequences of US policies toward children seeking protection”.
“The temporary emergency facility at Homestead is far from meeting basic standards under US and international law for providing and safe and healthy environment for children,” Amnesty US’s executive director, Margaret Huang, told the Guardian.
“A significant number of the children at Homestead have their cases managed by people sitting in Texas. That means they’re not getting the kind of firsthand care you’d expect. There are also a number of children who don’t speak either English or Spanish so often aren’t getting proper attention or the services they need.”
Homestead Influx Facility houses several thousand children, ages 13 to 17, and is the largest facility in the US for migrant children.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/17/amnesty-international-closure-migrant-child-detention-center-homestead-florida
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Can anyone imagine what the reaction would be if this kind of treatment of children happened anywhere else in this country?? Children abandoned and dirty, no parents, not enough food?? Child Protective Services would be on this immediately - and those responsible would likely be the ones to go to jail! 
