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This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here.

Migrant children incarcerated at a now-closed facility next to an Air Force Reserve base outside of Miami were exposed to toxic chemicals such as arsenic and lead, which are linked with developmental harm and cancer, according to more than 20,000 pages of records released as part of federal litigation over the site.

The Homestead migrant detention center for unaccompanied children, which closed in 2019, was situated adjacent to Homestead Air Reserve Base, a Superfund site, according to the social justice and environmental groups that sued in 2021 to make the documents public. The children, who were as young as six years old, also were subjected to the constant noise of F-16C fighter jets taking off and landing at the base, as well as sexual abuse, the groups said.

The litigation concluded last week after the federal government agreed to pay the groups’ legal fees. Earthjustice filed the lawsuit on behalf of the American Friends Service Committee in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, naming as defendants the Air Force, the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Air Force declined to comment on the litigation. The Department of Homeland Security referred inquiries to the Department of Health and Human Services, which also declined to comment.

The situation fits a nationwide pattern of migrants........

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