A group of four Senate Democrats is urging the Trump administration to permanently close the nation's largest facility for housing unaccompanied migrant children.

Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin Richard (Dick) Joseph DurbinThe Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by Facebook - Trump previews SCOTUS nominee as 'totally brilliant' Feinstein 'surprised and taken aback' by suggestion she's not up for Supreme Court fight Grand jury charges no officers in Breonna Taylor death MORE (Ill.), Jeff Merkley Jeffrey (Jeff) Alan MerkleyThe Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by The Air Line Pilots Association - Trump, Biden renew push for Latino support Sunday shows - Trump team defends coronavirus response Oregon senator says Trump's blame on 'forest management' for wildfires is 'just a big and devastating lie' MORE (Ore.), Chris Van Hollen Christopher (Chris) Van HollenCongress must finish work on popular conservation bill before time runs out Democrats fear Russia interference could spoil bid to retake Senate Mid-Atlantic states sue EPA over Chesapeake Bay pollution MORE (Md.) and Sheldon Whitehouse Sheldon WhitehouseThe Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by Facebook - Trump previews SCOTUS nominee as 'totally brilliant' Feinstein 'surprised and taken aback' by suggestion she's not up for Supreme Court fight Hillicon Valley: Murky TikTok deal raises questions about China's role | Twitter investigating automated image previews over apparent algorithmic bias | House approves bill making hacking federal voting systems a crime MORE (R.I.) wrote a letter Friday to the head of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) arguing that the facility in Homestead, Fla., is unfit to house minors.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced earlier this month that the facility was officially empty, though the senators pointed to a Miami Herald report saying the site could reopen as soon as October.

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“We appreciate your decision to effectively remove all children from the Homestead, Florida influx facility, and urge you to reject any future transfers to this facility, which is wholly unsuitable for vulnerable children and not in their best interest,” the senators wrote to ORR acting Director Jonathan Hayes, whose agency oversees the care of migrant children who are either unaccompanied or have been separated from their families.

The Homestead center was activated in February 2018 as a temporary emergency "influx" shelter by the ORR for minors crossing the border without their parents as a record-breaking number of referrals strained the agency’s existing capacities.

Besides urging the government to shutter the facility, the senators also urged the administration to end its contract with Comprehensive Health Services Inc. and its parent company Caliburn International to operate site.

The letter maintained that “the best environment for children is in a sponsor’s home, ideally that of a family member” and that if no family member is available for sponsorship, ORR should work to find “appropriate non-familial sponsors.”

“If children must be in institutional settings, they should be placed in permanent, state-licensed facilities,” the senators wrote, adding that if the demand for housing exceeds the abilities of state-licensed sites, contracts “should only be awarded to non-profit entities operating facilities holding fewer than 100 children.”

Democrats in both chambers of Congress have erupted over the government's contracts with for-profit companies in overseeing sites housing migrants. The facility at Homestead swiftly emerged as one of the most controversial locations after several visiting Democrats likened it to a prison.

“It looks like a prison. ... You’ve got a bunch of kids being marched around, teenagers ... and it does not look like a place where teenagers are supposed to be or families are supposed to be,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio Bill de BlasioOVERNIGHT ENERGY: California seeks to sell only electric cars by 2035 | EPA threatens to close New York City office after Trump threats to 'anarchist' cities | House energy package sparks criticism from left and right EPA threatens to close New York City office after Trump threats to 'anarchist' cities New Year's Eve in Times Square to be largely virtual amid pandemic MORE (D), a White House hopeful, said after a June visit. “Immediately I thought, ‘That’s a prison camp.’”

The four senators who wrote to the Trump administration on Friday requested 24 hours’ notice prior to resuming the transfers of children to Homestead, including a written justification describing how the move “would be in a child’s best interest.”