A new billboard has popped up in San Antonio calling attention to the plight of migrant children locked up at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, 70 miles southwest of the city.
That privately operated federal detention site is the only one in the nation that detains children, a fact that’s drawn the ire of human rights activists and Democratic politicians.
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro refers to the detention center as the “Dilley trailer prison” and makes regular visits to check on the condition of children in custody there.
The Save America Movement, a nonprofit operated by anti-Trump Republicans, leased the billboard at the intersection of Loop 1604 and Potranco Road to draw attention to conditions in Dilley.
“One Nation. Under God. Locking Up Children,” the sign reads.
The billboard also features a prison wall laden with barbed wire next to a cross.
Officials from the Save America Movement said their message is simple: “Children are being held in detention and most Americans have stopped paying attention.”
Indeed, about 112 children were being held at the Dilley detention center as of late July, Castro told reporters at that time.
Dr. Anita Patel, a Washington, D.C.-based pediatric critical care doctor who accompanied Castro during a recent visit to Dilley, told reporters in July that the conditions inside constituted child abuse.
Texas politics is a mess. We make it a readable mess.
Sign up for San Antonio Current’s new “Texas Politics This Week” newsletter.
Sign Up for SA Current newsletters.
Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed
