HOMESTEAD, FLA. (WSVN) - New video was released by the Department of Health and Human Services, showing the inside of the Homestead detainment facility.
The video, provided by HHS and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, showed the eating and living conditions inside the facility.
However, Melissa Taveras of the Florida Immigrant Coalition said the video isn’t enough for her.
“This doesn’t tell me anything,” she said. “No, it does not ease my mind to see these videos. What would ease my mind is to have the elected officials that are in charge of overseeing these detention facilities to be granted access when they ask access.”
Children can be seen in the video painting, eating, studying and playing sports. The video also shows bunk beds and other areas of the facility.
“Why are the children having to be put in this facility?” said Taveras. “It’s inhumane, it’s unnecessary and it needs to be intolerable.”
U.S. Senator Bill Nelson and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz were denied access to the facility, Tuesday.
However, Wasserman Schultz tweeted Thursday that she and Nelson will be able to access the facility on Saturday.
On Saturday, @SenBillNelson and I will finally enter the South Florida facility that is holding nearly 100 children who have been separated from their parents, after wrongly being denied entry earlier this week.
— Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (@RepDWStweets) June 21, 2018
Florida Congresswoman Frederica Wilson is also scheduled to visit the facility on Saturday. She has reportedly asked about the whereabouts of girls inside the facility, citing human trafficking as a real concern.
On Saturday, there’s also a “March to Keep Families Together” rally at 4 p.m. The rally is expected to begin on the corner of Southwest 288th Street and 137th Avenue, and include members of the community, clergy, activists and several immigrant rights groups.
“It doesn’t matter where you are from or what nationality you are, these are children, and they need a voice,” said Johnny Farias, of the Miami-Dade Community Council.
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