DILLEY IMMIGRATION PROCESSING CENTER
300 EL RANCHO WAY, DILLEY, TX 78017
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Families Protest Conditions at Dilley ICE Detention Facility
PBS NewsHour reports that hundreds of detained families and children staged a protest at the ICE family detention center in Dilley, Texas, demonstrating against their living conditions and treatment. Two Democratic members of Congress visited the facility, where children including five-year-old Liam Ramos were among those held. Immigration attorney Eric Lee, who was present at the center during the protests, spoke with PBS NewsHour about what he witnessed.2026-01-28
News article
Public advocate
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Pediatrician Raises Alarm Over Detained Children’s Health
A public advocate and board-certified pediatrician examines reports of unsafe water and inadequate medical care at the Dilley ICE detention facility in South Texas. Multiple families inside the facility describe water with a foul odor, cloudy appearance, and immediate vomiting after consumption. One child, identified as Amalia, was hospitalized and diagnosed with RSV pneumonia and respiratory distress, and 911 calls as well as a measles outbreak were also documented. The Department of Homeland Security denied the allegations, characterizing them as misinformation.2026-06-13
News article
Public advocate
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Ms. Rachel Speaks Out Against Child ICE Detention
MS NOW’s Antonia Hylton interviews Rachel Griffin Accurso, known as Ms. Rachel, about conditions at ICE detention facilities affecting children. The children’s educator expressed shock at the treatment of detained minors and voiced opposition to the practice of holding children in ICE custody.2026-04-20
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Public advocate
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Mothers Report Worms, Mold, Torment at Dilley Family Detention
MS NOW National Reporter Rosa Flores documents accounts from mothers released from the Dilley, Texas ICE family detention center, the only facility in the country where ICE holds families arrested nationwide. The women describe finding worms and mold in food, children and adults in distress, and psychological mistreatment during their confinement. Their accounts contradict official characterizations of those being detained and suggest that releases from the facility have been occurring with little public transparency.2026-03-20
News article
Former detainee
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Migrant Families Describe Conditions Inside Texas ICE Facility
KVUE, the Austin-based news channel, shared reporting in which immigrant families offered accounts of conditions inside a Texas ICE detention facility. Detainees described their experiences living within the facility, painting a difficult picture of daily life there. The report centers on the perspectives of migrants, including families, held in ICE custody in Texas.2025-12-09
News article
Public advocate
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Lawyer Records Screams of Women, Children in Detention
The Majority Report w/ Sam Seder covers an incident in which an attorney recorded audible screams of women and children inside an ICE detention facility. The footage or recording brought attention to conditions faced by detainees, including vulnerable populations such as children. The segment also highlighted advocacy efforts urging Congress to halt additional funding for ICE and CBP.2026-01-27
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Politician
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Internment Survivors, Faith Leaders Demand Dilley Detention Closure
The Texas Tribune reports that on June 27, 2026, Japanese American internment camp survivors and faith leaders gathered in Dilley, Texas to call for the closure of a South Texas ICE family detention facility. The activists completed a pilgrimage from a former World War II internment camp in Crystal City, drawing parallels between wartime family detentions and current immigration detention practices at the Dilley center.2026-06-27
Testimonial
Public advocate
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ICE Detention of Babies and Toddlers Rises Tenfold
An analysis published by People’s World, authored by Anna Flagg and Shannon Heffernan and drawing on data from The Marshall Project and MS NOW, finds that at least 500 infants and toddlers have been held in ICE custody since the Trump administration took office in January 2025. On an average day between January and March 2025, approximately 25 children aged three and under were detained — a tenfold increase compared to fewer than three per day during the final year of the Biden administration. Parents held in ICE detention have raised concerns about the conditions their young children are experiencing during a critical period of early brain development.2026-06-30
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Family member
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Father and Five-Year-Old Son Speak After ICE Release
Good Morning America reports exclusively on Adrian Conejo Arias and his five-year-old son Liam, who spoke out following their release from a Texas ICE detention facility. ABC News accompanied the father and son on their return trip to Minneapolis, Minnesota. The report captures their account of the detention experience and their journey home.2026-02-02
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Public advocate
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Dilley Residents Divided Over ICE Detention Facility
CBS Texas reports on divided community opinion in Dilley, Texas, regarding the town’s proximity to a large ICE immigration detention facility. Local residents express conflicting views, with some emphasizing economic benefits such as employment while others raise humanitarian concerns. The facility has been a focal point of protests and national media attention surrounding debates over ICE detention expansion.2026-03-10
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Public advocate
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Detained Mother’s Medical Crisis Goes Untreated at Dilley
Journalist Rebecca Hopkins, writing in her Substack publication, reports on the third installment of a multi-part series following the El Gamal family, who spent over ten months detained at the Dilley detention center in Texas after the father carried out a terrorist attack. The mother, Hayam El Gamal, repeatedly sought medical attention for a painful growth on her chest over several months before guards transported her to an emergency room, where a CT scan revealed both the growth and fluid around her heart. Despite a doctor recommending an ultrasound for further evaluation, she was returned to the facility without that follow-up care, leaving her condition undiagnosed. The family, including five children ranging in age from 5 to 18, had been held without charges against them, a situation legal experts described as unconstitutional kin punishment.2026-05-15
News article
Family member
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Child Detention at Dilley Sparks Family Protest
Democracy Now! reports on the detention of Liam Ramos, a 5-year-old from Minnesota, at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, where he was sent following an arrest shortly after returning home from preschool. Visiting members of Congress noted the child appeared depressed and was not eating well, while the legal director of RAICES described longstanding conditions at the facility including food with insects, partially frozen meals, and guards berating parents. An attorney who visited the facility observed detained families staging a protest demanding the release of children held at the center.2026-01-29
News article
Former detainee
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Child Detained with Father, Sent to Texas Facility
A Substack article by author Bruce Lesley describes the detention of a 5-year-old boy, Liam Ramos, who was apprehended with his father in Minnesota by ICE and transferred to an immigration detention facility in Dilley, Texas, over 1,000 miles away. The piece cites a visit to the facility by Rep. Joaquin Castro, who reported that the child was not faring well in detention. The article presents research on the documented physical and psychological harms of detaining children and calls on Congress to redirect funding away from immigration enforcement toward children’s welfare programs.2026-01-31
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Former detainee
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Attorney Describes ‘Horrific’ Conditions for Detained Children
The Guardian reports that attorney Eric Lee describes children held at the Dilley family detention center in Texas as traumatized by their conditions, calling their treatment a form of collective punishment. Lee represents the wife and five children of Mohamed Sabry Soliman, an Egyptian family that applied for asylum and was detained by ICE shortly after Soliman was charged with murder and hate crimes following an attack at a Colorado rally. An immigration judge found that the family had no prior knowledge of Soliman’s actions. The Guardian’s analysis of records from the Deportation Data Project found that ICE took approximately 3,800 minors into family detention between January and October 2025, and at least two measles cases have been confirmed at the facility.2026-02-06
Legal document
Public advocate
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Rep. Castro Speech Alleges Hidden ICE Detention Abuses
Hook Global, a news video channel, covers a congressional floor speech by Representative Joaquin Castro in which he criticizes the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies and alleges that conditions inside ICE detention facilities are deliberately concealed from the public. Castro described accounts involving infants and families held in detention and called for the closure of the Dilley detention center, which he connected to private prison profits. He also condemned ICE raids and family separations as part of broader deportation policies.2026-06-28
Official report
Politician
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Attorney Reads Texas Children’s ICE Detention Plea
MS NOW reports on immigration attorney Eric Lee, who publicly read a statement on behalf of the El Gamal family, including children, detained at the Dilley facility in South Texas for more than nine months. The statement describes conditions in which children were allegedly denied medical care, barred from schooling, and given food containing dirt and other contaminants. Lee characterized these conditions as child abuse and called for the family’s release.2026-03-15
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Public advocate
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Attorney Describes Children’s Conditions at Dilley Detention
The MS NOW channel features immigration attorney Eric Lee describing conditions he personally observed at the Dilley Detention Facility in Texas. According to the account, detained children were heard crying out to be released, received only Tylenol for what was reportedly appendicitis, and were given contaminated water used in baby formula preparation. The report raises serious concerns about the medical care and basic conditions experienced by children held in ICE custody at the facility.2026-01-26
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Phone call with detainee
Reporter Jim Acosta’s phone call with a detainee inside DilleyMarch, 2026
Testimonial
Professional journalist
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Facility Details
Demographics
Female/Male
Avg Daily Population (ADP)
231
Avg length of stay
31 days
Last ICE update: 07/20/2026
Criminals versus non-criminals (ADP)
| Gender | Criminal | Non-criminal |
| Male | 1 | 161 |
| Female | 2 | 262 |
Threat level classification (ADP)
(e.g., On avg, 420 people per day are no threat to ICE)
| No threat | Low | Medium | High |
| 420 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
Security level classification (ADP)
(e.g., On average, 415 people per day are housed in low security)
| Low | Medium | High |
| 415 | 10 | 0 |
Facility type: FAMILY
(Family detention facilities)Last inspection of facility
Inspection date: 04/09/2026
Inspection rating: Pass
Inspection type: ODO
Timeline in our records
Last date we imported a file from ICE: 07/20/2026
First date we received their record: 02/26/2026