Immigrant teen runs away from detention facility in Homestead

15-year-old girl escapes from immigration authorities, police say

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – A 15-year-old girl has run away from a detention facility being used to house migrant children in Homestead.

Officer Fernando Morales, a Homestead Police Department spokesman, said they received a call from staff at the Homestead Air Reserve base about 9 a.m. on Friday saying the teen had run away while being transported to an eye exam.

An anonymous tipster told authorities the girl was hiding behind a large toolbox inside the Gonzalez Auto Care shop at 129 N. Flagler Ave., about 6.5 miles away from the Homestead Air Reserve. 

Morales said authorities found her "about an hour or so later" and took her back to the facility. Her name was not released.

"She was taken into custody and back to the facility," Morales said. 

The incident comes as President Donald Trump’s zero-tolerance immigration policy has stoked global outrage and led to thousands of families being separated at the border.

The government had until the end of day Thursday to reunify more than 2,500 families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border, but hundreds of families remain separated a day after Thursday’s court-ordered deadline, with no reunification in sight.


About the Authors:

The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.