At least 3,500 people have been held at the Dilley Detention Center and more than half are minors. Photo: RTVE.
March 30, 2026 Hour: 11:27 pm
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Prominent celebrities from the U.S., including Jane Fonda and Madonna, demanded the closure of the ICE Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas, citing severe Human Rights violations and systematic abuse against migrant children and parents.
In a public letter addressed to the administration and private prison operator CoreCivic, the celebrities accuse the facility of detaining migrant children and their parents under conditions that severely violate human rights, urging an end to what they describe as systematic abuse.
The letter, which has garnered over 4,000 signatures to date, commences with an unequivocal statement: “No child should be locked up in an immigration detention center.” This powerful declaration resonates globally, highlighting the severe plight of migrant children deprived of their freedom.
The signatories assert that these vulnerable children endure profound trauma, neglect, and are exposed to environments that breach “basic standards of health, safety, dignity, and Human Rights.”
The extensive list of signatories underscores the widespread concern across the entertainment world. It features influential personalities such as John Legend, Brandi Carlile, Hannah Einbinder, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Wunmi Mosaku, Billy Porter, Keke Palmer, Hasan Minhaj, Katie Couric, and Susan Sarandon. These artists and activists leverage their significant platforms to advocate for the voiceless, bringing crucial visibility to an issue often obscured from public view.
The ICE Dilley Immigration Processing Center has been under intense public and media scrutiny, particularly following a concerning report released by ProPublica in February. This alarming document revealed that approximately 3,500 individuals, more than half of whom were minors, had been detained within the facility. Designed for migrant families, the center has faced heavy criticism regarding its operational practices and the impact on its detainees.
One particularly poignant case that garnered global attention was that of Liam Conejo Ramos, merely 5 years old, who was sent to Dilley after his arrest alongside his father in Minneapolis. Furthermore, a comprehensive analysis by the same investigative journalism outlet indicated that nearly 300 minors remained in the center for periods exceeding one month during the Trump administration. Such prolonged detention directly contravened the Flores Agreement, a crucial legal precedent that establishes a maximum limit of 20 days for the detention of migrant children, designed to safeguard their overall well-being and protect them from extended confinement.
Data obtained by the Deportation Data Project further solidified concerns about the migratory policies implemented during that period. Their statistics highlighted a dramatic increase in the detention of migrant minors in the United States under the Trump administration. In a specific timeframe, between January and October of a year during his tenure, an average of 170 children were arrested monthly by immigration authorities. This figure represented a stark disparity when compared to the average of 25 children recorded monthly during the last 16 months of the Joe Biden administration.
This comparison not only illustrates a significant shift in the application of immigration laws but also underscores the direct impact of political decisions on the lives of the youngest and most vulnerable individuals, igniting fervent calls for reform and greater accountability within the U.S. immigration system.