The Dilley facility, which first opened during Barack Obama's administration, stopped detaining families under Biden and reopened under Trump. It now holds hundreds of families, including children, often beyond the 20-day limit set by court order, according to major media reports. About 5,600 immigrants, more than half of them children, have been detained at Dilley since it reopened last year, major media reported. The number of people in ICE custody has exploded since Trump returned to the White House, with more than 60,000 people being held at any given point.
Individual cases illustrate prolonged detention at Dilley. A 29-year-old Ecuadorian mother and her 7-year-old daughter were detained at Dilley after being sent from Minnesota, according to major media. A 5-year-old boy named Liam Conejo Ramos was detained by ICE in Minneapolis and sent to Dilley, major media reported. Christian Hinojosa, an immigrant from Mexico, and her 13-year-old son were held at Dilley for more than four months, according to major media. Olivia, a 19-year-old asylum seeker from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has been at Dilley for more than four months, major media reported.
Medical emergencies and inadequate care have been reported at Dilley. Nearly 600 immigrant children have been held at Dilley with inadequate food and medical care, according to court documents. Emergency crews have been dispatched to Dilley nearly a dozen times over the last six months for medical emergencies. According to emergency records, crews have been dispatched at least 11 times since mid-September 2025 to treat children in medical distress. Staff repeatedly called for emergency help for young children and pregnant women between October 2025 and February 2026, records show. Children involved in the 911 calls ranged in age from 2 months to 13 years old, according to the records. Most calls involved low oxygen levels and respiratory distress, records indicate. In at least three cases, children were transferred more than an hour away to a pediatric hospital in San Antonio. In one case involving a 22-month-old in respiratory distress, first responders wanted to fly him to the hospital by helicopter but couldn't because of bad weather, according to records. Parents of a toddler with low oxygen refused to be transported, records show. Last month, a two-month-old boy with bronchitis was deported to Mexico with his mother and sister shortly after he was released from a hospital. ICE confirmed at least two measles cases inside the facility last month, major media reported.
Conflicting accounts have emerged regarding medical care and conditions at Dilley. A CoreCivic spokesperson said no child has been denied medical treatment. U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro said there has been medical care denied and that detainees are treated like animals. DHS Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sean Conley stated that allegations of denied medical care are false and that detainees receive timely and appropriate care. Dr. Lara Jones, a pediatric critical care physician, said the emergency calls point to potential missed opportunities for earlier medical intervention. Dr. Lara Jones stated there is no appropriate way to detain a child and that detention causes physical and mental harm.
A Venezuelan mother of two, referred to as Flora, was allegedly trafficked to the US and has been unlawfully detained by ICE, according to her lawyers. Flora's alleged trafficker is free while she remains detained, her lawyers said.
TSA and ICE collaboration has led to arrests at airports. TSA staff alerted ICE to a Guatemalan mother and her 9-year-old daughter before their arrest at San Francisco International Airport, according to government documents obtained by The New York Times. Angelina Lopez-Jimenez and her daughter Wendy Godinez-Jimenez were arrested at San Francisco airport after TSA flagged their names, major media reported.
ICE has failed to follow its own policies requiring officers to ask people they arrest about their children, according to a report from the Women's Refugee Commission and Physicians for Human Rights. A 22-year-old pregnant woman was deported to Honduras without being asked about her two-year-old daughter, according to the woman's account.
Child abuse and separation cases have also been reported. A 3-year-old girl suffered alleged sexual abuse at a foster home after being separated from her mother by immigration officials, according to court documents and the father's account. The Trump administration sent a government plane to Cuba to return a 10-year-old child at the center of a custody fight involving gender identity, major media reported. Rose Inessa-Ethington and Blue Inessa-Ethington were charged with international parental kidnapping for taking the child to Cuba, according to a criminal complaint.
ICE arrested a certified court interpreter and a US citizen. Meenu Batra, a certified court interpreter, was arrested by ICE at Harlingen Airport and claims she was treated like a criminal, according to Batra. Batra was granted withholding of removal status in 2000 and has been legally working in the US, according to Batra's attorney. ChongLy 'Scott' Thao, a US citizen, was arrested by ICE in St Paul, Minnesota, in what local authorities are investigating as possible kidnapping and false imprisonment, according to Ramsey county officials. ICE agents broke down Thao's door without a warrant, according to his family. DHS defended its agents, stating they were executing a warrant and that Thao refused to be fingerprinted or identified, according to a DHS spokesperson.
Dilley Immigration Processing Center is growing more secretive under new DHS leadership, according to Democratic lawmakers Rep. Joaquin Castro and Rep. Greg Casar.