Despite a drop in the number of families held at the controversial Dilley migrant detention camp near San Antonio, two key advocacy groups called for the site’s closure and said the White House shows no sign of stopping family detentions.
The organizations RAICES and Human Rights First called for the shutdown of the Dilley Immigrant Processing Center as they released a joint report on the prison camp on Thursday afternoon. Based on interviews with 50 families incarcerated at the site, the document accuses federal officials and private-prison firm CoreCivic, Dilley’s operator, of violating due process and exposing inmates to inhumane conditions.
Amid drawing condemnation from civil-rights groups, Democratic lawmakers and A-list celebrities, the lockup an hour southwest of San Antonio has dwindled in population, declining from 1,100 inmates in January to around 100 late last month. However, Robyn Barnard, senior director of refugees advocacy for Human Rights First, said the change doesn’t mean the Trump administration is phasing out detention of migrant families and children.
“While the current number of people at the prison has plummeted since February, it’s very unlikely that ICE or CoreCivic plan to stop using Dilley to detain families,” Barnard said on a call with reporters. “Among other things, we know that hiring continues for a for-profit education company to have staff at the prison. In fact, [the Department of Homeland Security] seems intent on doubling down on this policy, as in the last few days, we heard the administration plans to open another family prison in Alexandria, Louisiana.”
The Guardian last month reported that the White House plans to expand detention of children and families at a rural airport in Alexandria. That site reportedly will “confine family groups and children for between three and five days inside a converted military barracks before they are deported,” according to the outlet.
To date, at least 5,600 people have been held in the Dilley facility, many of them exposed to lasting psychological damage, according to the report. During interviews with Dilley families, the authors found:
- Family members are routinely threatened with or subjected to separation to coerce them into abandoning asylum claims.
- Detention regularly exceeds the 20-day legal limit, and some families are held for months.
- Families face serious due process violations, including limited access to legal counsel and information.
- Detainees face strain on their physical and mental health, which can result in lifelong trauma, especially for children.
- Those inside face limited access to safe food, water, personal hygiene and basic care, while pregnant individuals face inadequate care that puts their babies at risk.
“They’re trying to be cruel, they’re trying to punish, they’re trying to deter — and that’s something we’ve seen since the first iteration of the Trump administration, Trump 1.0,” RAICES co-CEO Faisal Al-Juburi said. “Right now, what’s so different is that, while the first administration, from a detention and family separation standpoint, was focused on new arrivals at the border, what we’re seeing this time around is a targeting of families who have been here lawfully and following everything the government has asked of them for 10 years, maybe longer.”
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, who joined RAICES and Human Rights First on Thursday’s call, applauded those who have spoken up against family detention. He said it’s now time for lawmakers to permanently ban the practice — not just to rein in the Trump White House but to prevent its use by future administrations.
“There are systemic things that need to change so that we don’t replicate Dilley when you have another president come into office — even when you have a Democrat come into office,” said Castro, who has repeatedly advocated for families inside the South Texas prison camp. “My goal, as I’ve said before, is to close Dilley.”
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