Human Rights First and RAICES Release New Report Exposing Systemic Due Process Violations and Cruelty at Dilley ICE Family Prison

Washington, D.C. — Human Rights First and RAICES today released a new joint report, “A New Era of ICE Family Prisons,” exposing the pervasive abuses against families and children in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with particular focus on the experiences of those detained at the reopened Dilley Processing Center in Dilley, Texas (“Dilley”). The report finds that more than 5,600 people, including parents, children, toddlers, and newborn babies, have been imprisoned at Dilley between April 2025 and February 2026. It exposes widespread due process violations, inhumane conditions, and lasting physical and psychological harm inflicted on families incarcerated at Dilley. 

Drawing on interviews with 50 impacted families and legal service providers, legal service provision, and desk research, the report finds that families are routinely detained for months in violation of court limits, subjected to coercive threats of separation, and denied meaningful access to asylum protections. Children face unsafe and degrading conditions, including inadequate medical care, limited access to education, and environments that severely undermine their health and development.

“Our findings make it clear that there is absolutely no rights-respecting or safe way for DHS to incarcerate families and children,” said Senior Director of Refugee Advocacy at Human Rights First, Robyn Barnard. “We spoke with a mother from Colombia whose five-year-old son was told by guards repeatedly that if he didn’t listen to his mother, he could be taken away and given to another family. A breastfeeding mother from Haiti was detained and separated from her U.S. citizen baby for over 100 days, with no way to provide the milk her child depends on. An ICE officer tried to coerce a 17-year-old girl from Azerbaijan to self-deport by threatening to separate her from her family when she turned 18. This horror cannot continue. What we are seeing at Dilley is unfathomably cruel and an assault on the rights, dignity, and wellbeing of children and their parents.” 

“The systemic neglect, denial of due process, and state-sanctioned harm under the Trump administration constitute a humanitarian crisis for immigrant children and their families,” said Faisal Al-Juburi, Co-CEO at RAICES. “As the only legal aid provider in Dilley every week, RAICES’ attorneys and advocates directly witness the trauma in detention. We see firsthand how this system deliberately strips people of their dignity, regardless of age. Sworn declarations from dozens of families detail government misconduct, human rights violations, and the mental and physical harm inflicted, particularly on children. We hope these powerful stories will spur action to end family detention permanently.”

Key Findings from the report include: 

• Families are routinely threatened with or subjected to separation to coerce them into abandoning asylum claims.
• Detention regularly exceeds the 20-day legal limit, with many families held for months.
• Families face serious due process violations, including limited access to legal counsel and information.
• Many are deported without a meaningful opportunity to seek protection, raising concerns under U.S. and international law.
• Conditions are unsafe and degrading, with inadequate access to food, water, personal hygiene, and basic care, particularly harming children.
• Detention worsens physical and mental health, interrupts medical treatment, and causes lasting trauma.
• Pregnant individuals face inadequate prenatal care and unsafe medical practices, putting them and their unborn babies at risk.

Our organizations are calling on the U.S. government to shut down the Dilley prison and end the policy of detaining families. We urge the U.S. government to invest in humane, community-based alternatives that respect the rights and dignity of families seeking protection.

To learn more, join Human Rights First, RAICES, and Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20) for a webinar on our findings this Thursday, April 2 at 12 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. CT. Register here to attend. 

Read the full report here. 

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To speak with Barnard please contact [email protected]. 

To speak with Al-Juburi please contact [email protected].