The ‘Z.’ Family

On May 29, 2025, the ‘Z.’ family of three from Honduras — a mother (Ms. Z.), nine-year-old daughter (D.M.Z.), and six-year-old son (N.M.Z.) with a history of leukemia — dutifully complied with their immigration obligations and attended a routine hearing at the Los Angeles Immigration Court. ICE agents, dressed in civilian clothing, arrested them as they stepped out of the courtroom, and they were sent to the sole active family detention center in the U.S., located in Dilley, Texas — where they remained for over a month.

On June 24, 2025, the Z. family filed a federal habeas petition and complaint challenging their arrests and detention. The lawsuit was filed by RAICES in partnership with the Texas Civil Rights Project and the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School. The lawsuit sought the family’s immediate release and was the first to challenge ICE arrests of children under a new ICE directive encouraging arrests at courthouses.

The Z. family’s story is not unique. What we have witnessed with the resurgence of family detention under the Trump administration is a humanitarian crisis unfolding in real time — one defined by state-sanctioned harm, the denial of due process, and systemic disregard for the wellbeing of immigrant children and their families.

Conditions at the Dilley detention center, under the management of private prison contractor CoreCivic, are broadly punitive. Most egregiously, families report that the medical care is inadequate, disorganized, and indifferent to the urgency of pediatric health needs, which is crystallized in this case.