1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

Today I’m writing to urge you to use all legal and legislative means to close the Dilley detention center and end family detention in the United States. This facility’s case is especially dire: More than half of the nearly 3,500 people currently held at Dilley are minors — infants and children who have been denied medical care, clean drinking water, and any semblance of due process. Detaining children solely because of their immigration status is not just cruel, it violates international law. Any amount of detention causes trauma in children, compounding what many already endured fleeing dangerous home countries. One child detained at Dilley put it plainly: "I feel like I'll never get out of here. I just ask that you don't forget about us." Congress cannot ignore that. Family detention was ended once before, in 2021, and it can be ended again. Vote to defund family detention facilities and shut Dilley down for good. Save these children from trauma and abuse. Thank you.