Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell Friday called for the resignation of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, citing "prison-like" conditions at a youth detention center in her Florida district and saying government budget cuts are stripping away school, access to attorneys and more from unaccompanied migrant children across the country.
"I have seen now the Homestead detention facility, which is the largest detention facility that we have in this country," Mucarsel-Powell told CNN's "New Day." "It's holding close to 3,000 children between the ages of 13 and 17. The first time I visited the shelter was back in February and I left extremely disturbed with a lot of questions."
Since then, there have been court filings in California that recount stories of children who have been mistreated, said Mucarsel-Powell, and there have been other instances of neglect reported, and she said it's "incredibly negligent" for HHS to have "thousands of kids under their custody and mistreat them in that way," so she is calling for Azar to step down.
The Homestead facility is like a "prison," she said, with teens living under high security and under a regimented schedule.
She added that there is no evacuation plan for the shelter, even though South Florida is nearing hurricane season.
Azar told Fox News Thursday that department funds may run out by early July unless Congress takes action, adding that "we don't have any say over whether these kids come across the border. We've just got to take care of them."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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