Dem presidential hopefuls demand closure of private migrant center for minors

Miami — New York Mayor Bill de Blasio , Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Congressman Beto O’Rourke on Thursday demanded that the United States stop separating immigrant children from their parents and locking them up like “criminals,” at the same time that they criticized the fact that private companies are making profits off this practice.

The three Democratic presidential hopefuls, who are in Miami for the pair of public debates among the top 20 aspirants for the party’s 2020 presidential nomination, on Thursday traveled some 30 miles south of Miami to the Homestead Homestead Migrant Detention Facility, which has the capacity to house 3,200 people, is operated by a private company and has been the target of numerous complaints and much criticism.

The three men were not allowed access to the center, but they climbed a stepladder to look over the surrounding fence and to greet the teenagers who are being detained there “against their will,” as they declared.

The center houses teenagers who came to this country with their undocumented families and were separated from them after being detained at the border, as well as other minors who arrived unaccompanied by adults, most of them from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

De Blasio said that the American people don’t approve of this practice and Sanders emphasized that it does not represent America or its values.

The senator also said that children fleeing their home countries “to try to save their lives and have a shot at human freedom and dignity” should be released to relatives in the US.

He promised during his first week in office, if elected president, to meet with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, and the leaders of the Central American countries to see how the Western Hemisphere can deal with the immigration problem.

O’Rourke said the detention center looked like “a military POW camp,” adding that the Trump administration was being “cruel” by housing the children in this way, and he thanked activists who were maintaining a vigil outside the Homestead center, calling on everyone to take note of what is going on there and bring pressure to bear on authorities to close such centers.

De Blasio said that the fact that access to a public building was denied to people representing thousands of Americans is a sign that “something bad” is going on behind its walls.

“This has to end,” the New York mayor emphasized, saying that it is scarcely believable that the government is treating “innocent” children like “burglars” at this point in US history.

De Blasio said that President Donald Trump “created this (immigration) crisis,” which “didn’t have to happen,” with policies seeking to divide Americans and demonize “immigrants and people of color.”

As he did on Wednesday night during the first of two Democratic presidential debates - one in which O’Rourke also participated - De Blasio once again directed his remarks at Americans who feel “frustrated” at how their lives are going to say “don’t blame immigrants for your problems.”

He said that the government was providing senseless excuses when it claims that it cannot reunite detained migrant children with their parents or relatives, asserting that “it’s possible to find them” and he will devote himself to doing that if he is elected president.

Also visiting the detention center on Thursday was Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who participated in the Democratic debate the night before.

The Homestead migrant center - which authorities call a “shelter” - was visited on Wednesday by Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, who participated in the televised debate later that evening, and also by Congressman Eric Swalwell.

On Thursday evening, Sanders, along with Sens. Kamala Harris and Kristen Gillibrand, former Gov. John Hickenlooper, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and six other Democratic hopefuls will participate in the second of the two Democratic presidential debates.

Meanwhile, Bank of America, the second-largest US bank, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, announced on Wednesday that it will cease considering loans to private companies operating jails and detention centers around the country.