Wasserman Schultz Introduces HOMESTEAD Act to Ensure Robust Oversight of Migrant Detention Facilities

Washington, July 23, 2019 “Congress must be able to exercise its constitutional oversight authority and ensure that all migrants coming here are treated with dignity and humanity.”

(Washington D.C.) – Tens of thousands of migrants are detained every day in government-run and for-profit facilities run by contractors. Congress must have unrestricted access to these facilities to ensure that migrants – many of whom are children – detained in these prison-like facilities are being treated in a humane, just and legal manner. U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23) introduced legislation this week that would ensure Members of Congress are able to conduct robust, unfiltered, and unfettered oversight of immigration detention centers, many of which are plagued by allegations of inhumane conditions, abuse and inadequate services.

The legislation, named the Help Oversee, Manage and Evaluate Safe Treatment and Ensure Access without Delay, or HOMESTEAD, Act of 2019, would prohibit the Administration from preventing Members of Congress from entering any migrant detention facility operated by the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Health and Human Services, or contractors working on behalf of those agencies. 

H.R. 3868, which was filed late Monday, would also prohibit the Administration from requiring that Members of Congress provide advance notice before entering such a facility.

“This Administration has proven it cannot be trusted to protect vulnerable people who have made a desperate journey to our country to escape violence and oppression,” said Wasserman Schultz. “Congress must assert its constitutional authority to provide vigorous oversight of these facilities without giving administration officials days to stage-manage who and what visitors can see. If Congress can show up at these detention centers at any time, the Administration will not be able to hide the horrors some of these children endure. Members of Congress must be able to see what daily life is truly like at these facilities, which can only be achieved through unannounced visits.”

Wasserman Schultz has been denied entry twice to the Homestead influx facility for unaccompanied children. On two other occasions, she was granted access, but only after officials and the for-profit contractor there had days of advance notice.

Current law requires 48-hour notice in advance of official Member visits. The Homestead facility has insisted on a two-week notice in the past, despite language in the FY 19 appropriations package that was included to prohibit the Administration from blocking Members of Congress from visiting detention facilities. The co-sponsors of H.R. 3868 include U.S. Reps. Rosa DeLauro (CT-3), Tim Ryan (OH-17), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), Madeleine Dean (PA-04), Frederica Wilson (FL-24), Debbie Mucarsel Powell (FL-26) and Donna Shalala (FL-27); Charlie Crist (FL-13) was also an early sponsor of the HOMESTEAD Act.

“Advance warning of our visits can lead to a skewed impression of the actual conditions inside these facilities,” Wasserman Schultz said.  “Congress must be able to exercise its constitutional oversight authority and ensure that all migrants coming here are treated with dignity and humanity.”