SAN ANTONIO – U.S. Representatives Joaquin Castro and Greg Casar held a news conference on Wednesday afternoon in San Antonio, urging the release of families detained at the Dilley immigration detention center. This facility has become the focal point of a growing concern regarding the treatment of immigrant families within the U.S. immigration system.
The news conference, held in collaboration with criminal justice reform organization FWD.us and Families Belong Together, aimed to “permanently end family separation and detention” while also advocating for the reunification of separated families, as outlined on the campaign’s website.
During the event, the congressmen recounted their observations from a recent tour of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) family detention center, with Castro describing the conditions as “unlike any I’ve been to before in Dilley, and in many ways, worse.”
Castro attributed this deterioration to the current leadership of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), specifically referencing Markwayne Mullin, the new Secretary sworn in last month. He remarked, “It’s the same cruelty, but there’s more secrecy now.”
According to Castro, during their visit, ICE officers began reading from “scripts that they had been commanded to read by ICE leadership in Washington, D.C.,” which Castro noted was being monitored closely by ICE officials.
Over the course of the past week, Castro reported a rise in the number of families detained in Dilley, increasing from approximately 100 to 138.
‘Free the children’
Congressman Casar, whose district encompasses parts of San Antonio and Austin, highlighted the alarming statistic that the Trump administration has “arrested and detained 6,200 kids.” His emphatic call to action was clear: “We are here to say: ‘Free the children.’”
To illustrate the impact of detention, Casar shared poignant letters from detainees at the Dilley facility. One letter came from a 19-year-old who expressed feelings of isolation after being separated from her family: “I feel lost, alone and many times, I feel like I no longer have the strength to keep going.” Although her mother and siblings were released, she remains in Dilley.
In another letter, an Austin-area teenager recounted a traumatic experience, stating that ICE officers entered their home, “handcuffed” them, and pointed guns at his family in the early morning hours of March 2. The teenager poignantly concluded, “We no longer want to be here (at the ICE detention facility in Dilley).”
Casar further revealed that instead of providing education, high school detainees “sit in a room and draw all day.” He also noted that detainees seeking free online legal assistance have been unable to access the internet for weeks, limiting their ability to seek help.
“Trump and ICE lie and lie and lie about what they’re doing to immigrant families and to our kids,” Casar stated passionately. “And that’s why it’s so important for everyone all over this country to know what’s really happening at Dilley, what’s happening on our watch and what the Trump administration is doing with your tax dollars.”
Both Castro and Casar have a history of advocating for the release of immigrants detained in Dilley, with Castro having previously aided in the release of families, including a 5-year-old boy named Liam Conejo Ramos in February.
