Homestead may be reopening to house minors, feds say. If so, who will land the contract?
The Homestead detention center may be reopening in coming months if the number of unaccompanied minors crossing the border rises, two federal sources with the Department of Homeland Security told the Miami Herald Monday.
“There have been several ongoing conversations” between the Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of Refugee Resettlement about its reopening, one federal source told the Miami Herald. “Again, it’s an emergency influx center, so it’s expected. Once the number of kids hits the threshold, they put the shelter to go active within the next 30 days.”
According to statistics released by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol last week, the number of people crossing the southern border in December dropped only slightly from November.
Of those arriving in December, about 8,600 migrants were traveling as families, and 3,250 were unaccompanied children, both down slightly from the previous month. CBP says arrests at the border typically decline in the winter and rise again in the spring during warmer temperatures. As of Monday, approximately 3,400 children were in the government’s custody compared to the 10,500 children in their custody at this same time one year ago.
HHS and ORR will not disclose how many unaccompanied minors would have to be detained at the border in order for Homestead to be activated. Late Monday, HHS sent the Miami Herald an emailed statement:
We have “no current plans to resume operations to shelter unaccompanied alien children at the Homestead Temporary Emergency Influx facility,” said Kenneth J. Wolfe, an HHS spokesman. “Migration patterns are always unpredictable. Our job is to be prepared. Having influx care facilities available when and if there is a need is a result of our aggressive bed management strategy that allows us to expand and contract capacity as needed.”
If the center does reopen, it’s still unclear what company would operate it since Caliburn International’s contract ended on Nov. 30. Caliburn — which was awarded the contract without competition around the same time that President Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, Gen. John Kelly, joined the company’s board of advisers — managed the facility for unaccompanied migrant children ages 13 to 17 since 2018. If the facility does reopen, a new contract would have to be solicited.
“Who gets the contract will be a mystery. Caliburn could be awarded again or it could be someone completely new,” the source added.
Another source with the Department of Homeland Security — the law enforcement agency charged with securing the premises — told the Miami Herald that the government is considering “restructuring” the facility.
“There are talks about not using tents next time, just hard structures,” the federal official told the Miami Herald. “Though none of the kids actually resided or slept in the tent portion of the property, they are still considering using hard structure for all the support buildings.”
Homestead was the largest for-profit, influx detention center for unaccompanied minor children in the country, with 3,200 beds at its peak.
This story was originally published January 13, 2020 at 4:08 PM.
