A NEW ERA OF ICE FAMILY PRISONS

In early 2025, the second Trump administration began detaining immigrant families and children, and by April, the Dilley Immigration Processing Center (“Dilley”) became the sole active family detention center in the U.S. More than 5,600 people, including parents, children, toddlers, and newborn babies, have been imprisoned at Dilley between April 2025 and February 2026, according to our analysis of Immigration and Customs Enforcement data.

This report by Human Rights First and RAICES, based on in-depth interviews with families detained at Dilley, legal service provision, and desk research, exposes the profound harm incarceration at Dilley inflicts on families and children. It concludes that inhumane conditions, routine mistreatment, and due process violations experienced by families at Dilley are pervasive and systemic. In addition to the violation of constitutional and statutory legal protections, DHS’ policy of family incarceration also violates international treaties and legal prohibitions on non-refoulement, arbitrary detention, and the detention of children.