For Immediate Release

LOS ANGELES — A brief filed Wednesday by attorneys representing children protected under the Flores Settlement Agreement provides proof that ICE’s 2026 Annual Report is a misleading account of conditions at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. 

While ICE claims it is largely complying with Flores, more than 100 sworn declarations from children and parents detained at Dilley tell a different story: children continue to suffer from prolonged detention, inadequate medical and mental health care, poor nutrition, sleep deprivation, inadequate education and recreation, and barriers to learning about and exercising their Flores legal rights. As J.C.B., a father detained for 57 days with his 10-year-old son, said:

“My child has visited Germany, and we’ve seen the concentration camps in Munich. We’ve been to Dachau. He asked me if we are in a concentration camp here. All the signs there say we learn so that the story doesn’t repeat itself. My kid says, ‘Dad, but it is equal to where we are. And they don’t let us leave.’”

ICE reports that, aside from some issues with educational services, Dilley complies with Flores, citing data about the low number of “founded” grievances submitted by those detained at Dilley that is contradicted by plaintiff’s voluminous evidence of Flores violations. 

Plaintiffs’ filing includes a 105-page chart cataloguing 14 months of sworn testimony from detained parents and children. Organized into 12 categories, the chart shows persistent Flores violations reported across successive site visits. The declarations describe recurring failures in nearly every aspect of children’s treatment:

Staff mistreatment. Families consistently report degrading treatment by staff and describe feeling powerless to protect their children despite ICE’s assurances that its grievance system provides meaningful relief:

“[The guards] treat us like animals. One time a guard in the cafeteria was complaining about the families at Dilley and said we should be appreciative of the food here. She said, ‘Why are they complaining? If they were in their own countries, they would be eating shit.’” L.R.V. – a father detained for more than 60 days with his four children.

Medical care. During recent site visits, families continue to report that Dilley medical staff minimize or ignore their concerns and deny access to doctors. Since Dilley re-opened, families have raised approximately 1,480 medical care concerns to RAICES attorneys, who provide direct legal services to families:

“Medical seems incompetent. My sister and my dad go a lot. The nurses supposedly consult with the doctor, but we never see the doctor when we go to the medical unit. My dad has a problem with his spine. In California, he was getting injections and special medicine for his back pain because it’s so bad. Here, they just give him ibuprofen, and this causes his stomach to hurt. My dad also had an infection where he was peeing blood here, and he never saw a doctor for that.” L.R.P. – a 16-year-old boy detained with his three sisters for about 70 days.

Mental health. ICE describes a mental health program that includes such therapeutic approaches as “Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), trauma-focused CBT and DBT, somatic experiencing, and brain spotting.” However, children and parents consistently report there are nothing more than brief “wellness checks” and that children’s mental health deteriorates the longer they are detained:

“I have trouble sleeping because of all my racing thoughts. Will I go back to school? Will I go back to LA? Has my GPA gone down? I had a 4.0, and I was hoping to get scholarships. Now I don’t know what is going to happen…My little brother is not doing okay. He is crying a lot, and always saying how much he misses his family…He’s always saying how much he doesn’t want to be here.” N.A.A.– a 17-year-old girl detained with her 4-year-old brother and parents for 44 days.

Access to legal rights. Not a single family that Plaintiff counsel have spoken with at Dilley recall learning about their full Flores rights in a video, training, or other documentation as required under the FSA. Families also continue to report barriers to making free legal phone calls, contacting attorneys, and preparing their immigration cases. Some reported being told to sign paperwork describing a child’s right to release within 20 days while simultaneously being told those rights did not actually apply:

“We never received information about how to call lawyers or how to call people for free. I only learned how to call Flores attorneys, because other people detained here gave me your information. I used my money to pay for that call, because I do not know how to make calls any other way.” M.L.S. – a mother detained for 24 days with her 2-month-old son and 15-month-old daughter, where her babies’ health declined.

Nutrition and drinking water. ICE reports only 18 food-service grievances over nearly a year—and reports that none were substantiated. Given that many families emphatically complained that their children were served food containing worms, in addition to the routine food-related concerns Plaintiffs’ counsel hear during every site visit, the absence of a single founded food service grievance strains credulity. On a site visit in June, children and families reported:

“Often when I eat the food, it will hurt my stomach. I have lost six pounds. My little brother also doesn’t like the food. He would eat it at first, but then he started getting belly aches and now he doesn’t want to eat it at all.” N.A.A.

Sleep. ICE’s report says nothing about sleeping conditions, yet families consistently report that children are unable to sleep because lights remain on throughout the night, guards conduct disruptive room checks, and nighttime activity leaves children frightened and exhausted:

“It is difficult for my children to sleep here because the lights are on all night. I am detained in a room with just my children. A couple of nights ago, we all woke up when a bunch of ICE officers came into the room at 3 am. They were checking for things, but I am not sure what they were looking for. It was terrifying. When they saw that I woke up, they left the room. I do not know what they were doing there.” M.G.O. – a mother detained with her 9-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son for 53 days.

 Education and recreation. ICE acknowledges that the education program at Dilley has “issues” and states it “will continue to be prioritized for enhancements.” Parents consistently raise concerns about the quality of the program and teaching staff, who do not appear to them to be teachers at all. Children who had been flourishing at school before they were detained are frustrated and angry that they are losing academic ground while languishing at Dilley:

“The education is monotonous and boring here; I know all the material already. It doesn’t work. I will only get Fs for grades now because I am not at my old school.” 

L.R.P. 

Plaintiff’s counsel assert that the ICE report presents “a mythical account of recreational opportunities” (with reference to activities such as “bead bracelet making”, “jewelry box construction and decorating”, “birdhouse building”, and “crocheting”) that bears little resemblance to their observations during site visits or to the experiences consistently described by parents and children. As Flores co-counsel Leecia Welch stated in her own declaration:

“Based on my observations and understanding from my visits, children are not permitted to keep personal items such as jewelry boxes or birdhouses. Families have repeatedly reported that staff confiscates children’s drawings and letters that depict personal experiences or express sadness, which would likely be the focus of children’s journals. To the extent the listed activities ever occur, the facility’s restrictions substantially diminish their developmental or therapeutic value.”  

The government’s annual report relies heavily on written policies, grievance statistics, and internal reporting to demonstrate compliance. Plaintiffs’ filing presents a fundamentally different record—one built on sworn declarations gathered directly from children and parents over the past 14 months. It substantiates once again the prolonged detention, harsh treatment, and harmful conditions children experience at Dilley every day.

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