1. United States
2. Letter

I am writing to urge you to take immediate action to secure the release of children and families detained at the ICE South Texas facility in Dilley, including infants as young as 2 months old and their parents who are being held despite having committed no crime. Representative Joaquin Castro recently visited Dilley and found 1,100 people detained in what he describes as a "trailer prison" where multiple families are crammed into 12-person rooms under constant camera surveillance with prison-like movement restrictions. The youngest detainee he encountered was a 2-month-old baby. Children at the facility show clear signs of trauma, including poor eating, excessive sleeping, and despondency. Five-year-old Liam Ramos, whom Castro helped release, was found in this condition after his family used the CBP One app to apply for asylum through the legal process. Many of these families followed the rules by using the CBP One app, which was designed as an orderly way to apply for asylum. Instead of receiving fair consideration, they find themselves imprisoned and facing deportation. This betrayal of people who trusted our legal system is unconscionable. The Department of Homeland Security received $150 billion in extra funding above their annual budget in recent legislation, with ICE alone receiving $75 billion extra. Money is clearly not the issue. What is needed is the political will to stop detaining innocent children and families who pose no threat and have committed no crime. For the first time in Texas history, Governor Greg Abbott has embedded the Texas National Guard into detention centers like Dilley to assist with deportation operations. This collaboration has freed ICE agents to conduct warrantless raids in communities across the country, including entering homes in San Antonio without presenting warrants or explaining their purpose. I urge you to demand the immediate release of all children and families from Dilley, particularly infants and malnourished parents, and to support reforms requiring judicial warrants for ICE operations and ending the detention of asylum seekers who have used legal pathways.