In late February 2026, reporting on the Dilley Immigration Processing Center revealed harrowing details about the conditions under which families are being detained at the facility.

Dilley received public attention last month following the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrest in Minneapolis of Liam Conejo Ramos, a 5-year-old boy wearing a bunny hat and Spiderman backpack. Ramos and his father were then sent to Dilley, with the boy caged alongside hundreds of children who have been detained there for months. (Both Ramos and his father were released after 10 days, due to the intervention of Congress members and a judge.)

Dilley, located about 75 miles south of Laredo, was first opened in 2014 during the Obama administration and, after being scaled back, closed in the last year of the Biden administration. Republican President Donald Trump re-opened Dilley in spring 2025, as part of his administration’s crackdown on immigrants. The number of detainees at Dilley has risen sharply in recent months to more than 1,300 people, with many of them children being held for longer than the 20-day limit established by a longstanding court order.

The Texas detention facility is run by CoreCivic, the Nashville-based private prison profiteer with a long track record of guard beatings, medical neglect, and inhumane conditions. [See: PLN, Aug. 2019, p. 12.] Much like its competitor the GEO Group, CoreCivic has profited immensely since Trump’s return to the White House. The company owns and operates at least ten ICE detention facilities across the United States and posted a record $2.2 billion in total revenue last year. Dilley, which is not yet in full operation, is estimated to bring in around $180 million in annual revenue for CoreCivic, the Associated Press reported.

Built to cage 2,400 people, Dilley—a sprawling complex of trailers and modular buildings—holds detainees in clusters that ICE calls “neighborhoods.” Bunk beds arranged side-by-side cram parents and children in close quarters. Although CoreCivic claims that they have a pediatrician, pediatric nurse, and other medical staff, health outcomes for detainees—especially among children—appear to be growing more severe.

In early February, two “active measles infections” were detected at the facility. And, according to NBC News, numerous 911 calls from the facility detailed requests from staff for ambulances for children struggling to breathe, stricken with fever, or appearing lethargic. Since September 2025, emergency medical crews have been dispatched to Dilley at least 11 times in response to a child’s medical distress. One more recent case that wasn’t captured on the call logs involved a 2-month old infant that was taken to the hospital after his mother said he choked on his own vomit.

Unsafe conditions at Dilley, including poor drinking water, food, and hygiene concerns, are widespread. The children detained there, sometimes in rooms with up to 12 other people, aren’t able to get enough sleep because the lights are kept on 24 hours a day. Many of the children have lost weight and have limited access to classrooms, often only for an hour per day.

“I feel very sad and stressed to be here,” a 14-year-old girl recounted in court documents, describing how difficult it is to sleep at Dilley. “My nerves are so high. I don’t know what is happening. My muscles will twitch because I’m so nervous and on edge.”  

Sources: NBC News, Associated Press, The Texas Tribune