Hundreds of Wayfair employees walked out of work Wednesday afternoon to protest the company’s business with the government agency and its contractors housing children seeking asylum in the US.



The walkout comes after employees discovered that Wayfair fulfilled an order for $200,000 worth of bedroom furniture for a detention facility in Carrizo Springs, Texas, that is designed to hold up to 3,000 immigrant children, a Wayfair employee who has access to the contract told BuzzFeed News. Wayfair previously sold furniture to outfit a Tornillo, Texas, detention facility housing children seeking asylum in September 2018, the employee said. Wayfair did not respond to BuzzFeed News' request for comment about these claims.

A group of more than 500 employees condemned the sale in a letter sent Monday to Wayfair's leadership team. The group called for the company to stop its business with BCFS Health and Human Services and for it to develop a code of ethics for business-to-business transactions. The facilities have recently come under fire for their unsanitary conditions and poor treatment of infants and children.

"We believe that the current actions of the United States and their contractors at the Southern border do not represent an ethical business partnership Wayfair should choose to be a part of," the letter stated.