South Texas Family Residential Center

This article is about the Dilley TX facility. For the nearby facility in Pearsall TX, see South Texas Detention Facility.

South Texas Family Residential Center
Interactive map of South Texas Family Residential Center
Location300 El Rancho Way
Dilley, Frio County,
Texas, United States, 78017[1]
Coordinates28°39′23″N 99°12′08″W / 28.656400°N 99.202272°W / 28.656400; -99.202272
StatusReopened 2025
Security classImmigration detention facility
Capacity2,400
Opened2014
Managed byCoreCivic (formerly known as CCA - Corrections Corporation of America)
DirectorJose Rodriguez Jr.
Websitehttps://www.corecivic.com/facilities/dilley-immigration-processing-center

The South Texas Family Residential Center (also called Dilley Immigration Processing Center) is an immigrant detention center in Dilley, Texas. First opened in December 2014, it has a capacity of 2,400 and is intended to detain mainly women and children from Central America.[2] United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) closed the detention center in June 2024, citing cost savings to add more beds in other facilities as the Biden administration implemented new border restrictions. It reopened the following year, in 2025. [3]

In 2025, CoreCivic announced a new contract with ICE to reopen the facility as the Dilley Immigration Processing Center.[4] ICE awarded the CoreCivic and Target Hospitality a 5-year contract in 2025, aiming to immediately resume operations.[5] CoreCivic receives $160 million annually to operate the facility.[6] As of 2025, the facility was exceeded in total capacity and average daily population by some other detention centers, including Camp East Montana.[7]

A 2025 ICE planning document described the possible construction of a 250-person "soft-sided" detention center at the site.[7]

Location and description

The site is located approximately 100 miles (160 km) north of the Rio Grande and 70 miles (110 km) southwest of San Antonio, southwest of Dilley, Texas, in Frio County.[2] The address is 300 El Rancho Way, Dilley, Texas, United States, zip code 78017.[1]

The 50-acre site (20 ha) contains 80 small, tan-colored, two-bedroom, one-bathroom cottages for the families. The cottages can house up to eight people and contain bunk beds as well as baby cribs. They also have a flat-screen television. There is a kitchen, but cooking is not allowed in order to prevent fires. The cottages are connected by dirt roads.

There are also recreational and medical facilities, a school, trailer classrooms, a library, a basketball court, playgrounds, and email access. A cafeteria is open for 12 hours a day, but snacks can be obtained at any hour.[2]

The site was formerly a camp used by oilfield workers.[8]

Detainees

The South Texas Family Residential Center was at first only able to accommodate 480 people when the first group of residents arrive in December 2014 from a Border Patrol training camp located in Artesia, New Mexico. Capacity expanded over the following months as construction and staffing continued, reaching up to 2,400 residents by mid-2015, with a staff of around 600.[2][9] It is intended to detain mostly women and children from Central America.[10]

On June 12, 2015, it was reported that the facility was holding 1,735 people, approximately 1,000 of whom were children.[11] CoreCivic, previously called "Corrections Corporation of America", sought a license in 2016 to operate the facility as a General Residential Operation but litigation was brought by Texas RioGrande Legal Aid on behalf of Grassroots Leadership and the detainees themselves to block the licensing by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.[12] In filings dated September 30, 2018, the operator stated that the property was 100% full. By April 2019, there were 499 women and children in the facility.[13]

In January 2026, a five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father were brought to the facility. The child's detention had attracted media attention and public outrage after photos of the child being detained in a bunny hat and Spider-man backpack circulated.[14] On January 24, dozens of detained children staged a demonstration in the detention center, shouting "Libertad" (Spanish for "Freedom").[15]

Conejo Ramos's detention brought widespread public attention to the unsanitary conditions of the facility. His health deteriorated quickly due to a lack of medical care and unsafe food and water.[16] A judge ordered his release along with his father, and the same weekend that they were released, ICE locked down the facility and announced that cases of measles were spreading there.[17]

Administration

The facility opened in 2014 and is operated mainly by CoreCivic and Target Hospitality.[18][19] The facility was shut down in June 2024.[3]

Public reactions

At the end of January 2026, several protests broke out around the facilities following reports of mistreatment of immigrants after reports from Eric Lee's attorney investigating ICE procedures, citing sounds of children crying and screaming after being detained.[20][21]

On January 28, 2026, DPS troopers arrived to control part of the protests around the camp, where agents used tear gas on several demonstrators who were protesting ICE's detention of children.[22][23] DPS agents had arrested two protesters who had approached the facilities.[24]

On February 9, 2026, ProPublica released a detailed investigation into the treatment of children at the South Texas Family Residential Center, where several letters in English and Spanish from immigrant children detailing their experience at the center were disclosed.[25] The disclosure of letters from immigrant children caused outrage both in Texas and in various parts of Latin America following the mistreatment allegedly suffered by children of Colombian[26] and Venezuelan[27] origin. After the letters and artwork created by detained children spread among the public, guards at the camp seized drawing supplies, letters and drawings, and restricted access to email.[28]

Protests

The detention of Liam Conejo Ramos, a 5-year-old U.S. citizen taken into custody with his father after an immigration enforcement operation in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, and subsequently held at the Dilley facility, drew national attention in January 2026.[29] When news of Liam's detention reached families inside Dilley, detained women and children staged a demonstration, chanting for release and holding signs. Outside the facility, protesters gathered and state police used pepper spray on demonstrators.[30][31]

U.S. Representative Joaquin Castro visited the facility on January 29, 2026, spending two-and-a-half hours inside and meeting with detained families, including Liam and his father. Castro described the approximately 1,100 detainees he observed, including a 2-month-old infant, as "literally being treated as prisoners."[31] Several other children from the Columbia Heights school district were also taken to Dilley, and school officials reported that two brothers detained with their mother recognized a classmate in the facility cafeteria who had been missing from their school for weeks.[32]

Immigration attorney Eric Lee, who represents the family of Hayam El-Gamal, an Egyptian mother detained with her five children (including 5-year-old twins) for eight months at Dilley, described conditions as "an unmitigated horror show." Lee reported that one of El-Gamal's children suffered appendicitis in detention and "was left writhing on the floor of the facility screaming and in pain" before eventually being taken to urgent care.[31]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "South Texas Family Residential Center". Archived from the original on March 19, 2025. Retrieved March 19, 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d "South Texas immigration detention center set to open". CBS News. Associated Press. December 15, 2014. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  3. ^ a b Hesson, Ted (June 10, 2024). "US to close costly Texas immigration detention center and reroute funds". Reuters. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
  4. ^ Hurwitz, Sophie (March 6, 2025). "Private prison companies set to make billions reopening jails for ICE". Mother Jones. Retrieved March 6, 2025.
  5. ^ "CoreCivic Announces Resumption of Operations at South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas". CoreCivic. March 5, 2025. Retrieved August 15, 2025.
  6. ^ Serrano, Alejandro (March 6, 2025). "South Texas immigration detention center to reopen". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved January 27, 2026.
  7. ^ a b MacMillan, Douglas; Kirkpatrick, N.; Sidhom, Lydia (August 15, 2025). "ICE documents reveal plan to double immigrant detention space this year". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved January 27, 2026.
  8. ^ "Largest Detention Center in U.S. Opens". The Daily Beast. December 16, 2014. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  9. ^ Salazar, John (May 8, 2015). "South Texas Family Residential Center Adding Beds". Spectrum Local News. Retrieved January 28, 2026.
  10. ^ Garbus, Martin (March 24, 2019). "Fleeing threats to her children, a Honduran woman now faces a tough fight for asylum". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
  11. ^ Hennessy-Fiske, Molly (June 25, 2019). "Immigrant families in detention: A look inside one holding center". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
  12. ^ Garcia-Ditta, Alexa (June 2, 2016). "Judge Halts Child Care License for Dilley Detention Center". The Texas Observer. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
  13. ^ Small, Julie (April 13, 2019). "Detention Beds for Immigrant Families Nearly Empty Amid Surge in Border Crossings". KQED. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
  14. ^ "Pressure mounts for release of 5-year-old held at South Texas family detention center; DHS defends ICE actions". Texas Public Radio. January 23, 2026.
  15. ^ Davies, David Martin (January 25, 2026). "Protest breaks out at Dilley immigration detention facility holding 5-year-old Liam Ramos". Texas Public Radio. Retrieved March 2, 2026.
  16. ^ Bendery, Jennifer (January 28, 2026). "5-Year-Old in ICE Detention Is Sick, Says Top School Official". HuffPost. Retrieved January 30, 2026.
  17. ^ Montoya-Galvez, Camilo (February 1, 2026). "ICE halts "all movement" at Texas detention facility due to measles infections". CBS News. Retrieved February 2, 2026.
  18. ^ Forsyth, Jim (December 15, 2014). "Largest family detention center for immigrants opens in Texas". Reuters. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  19. ^ Roy, Anusha Ghosh (December 15, 2014). "New residential immigration center makes history". KENS5. Archived from the original on June 30, 2015. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  20. ^ "Immigrant families protest at Texas facility housing 5-year-old boy, father detained in Minnesota". AP News. January 25, 2026. Retrieved February 12, 2026.
  21. ^ McNeel, Bekah Stolhandske (January 29, 2026). "All Eyes on Dilley: 'It's Worse Than Anybody Thinks'". Texas Monthly. Archived from the original on February 5, 2026. Retrieved February 12, 2026.
  22. ^ Whartnaby, Taylor; Warner, Jessica (January 28, 2026). "Protestors outside Texas ICE detention facility met with tear gas in clash". KATV. Retrieved February 12, 2026.
  23. ^ Aguirre, Priscilla; Wright, Zachary-Taylor; Arévalo, Dina (January 28, 2026). "Chemical irritant thrown at Dilley detention center protestors". MySA. Archived from the original on January 31, 2026. Retrieved February 12, 2026.
  24. ^ "2 protesters arrested, hit by tear gas near Dilley family detention facility". KSAT. January 28, 2026. Retrieved February 12, 2026.
  25. ^ Yar, Cengiz; Rosenberg, Mica; Donlan, Anna; Gordon, Shoshana (February 9, 2026). ""I Have Been Here Too Long": Read Letters from the Children Detained at ICE's Dilley Facility". ProPublica. Retrieved February 12, 2026.
  26. ^ "Dos niñas colombianas están detenidas en centros de ICE en EE.UU" [Two Colombian girls are being held in ICE detention centers in the United States.]. La Silla Vacía (in Spanish). February 10, 2026. Retrieved February 12, 2026.
  27. ^ Lapatilla (February 9, 2026). "Las conmovedoras cartas de los niños venezolanos detenidos en las instalaciones de ICE en Texas" [The moving letters from Venezuelan children detained at ICE facilities in Texas]. LaPatilla (in Spanish). Retrieved February 12, 2026.
  28. ^ Rosenberg, Mica; Funk, McKenzie (February 26, 2026). "Seized Art, Eavesdropping Guards: Parents Describe a Clampdown at Dilley Detention Center as Kids Shared Their Stories". ProPublica. Retrieved March 2, 2026.
  29. ^ Levin, Sam (January 21, 2026). "ICE detains five-year-old Minnesota boy arriving home, say school officials". The Guardian. Retrieved February 25, 2026.
  30. ^ Gay, Eric (January 28, 2026). "Police deploy chemical irritants at protesters gathered outside Texas detention center, in photos". Associated Press. Retrieved February 25, 2026.
  31. ^ a b c Flagg, Anna; Heffernan, Shannon (January 29, 2026). "Children in ICE Detention Skyrocket in Trump's Second Term". The Marshall Project. Retrieved February 26, 2026.
  32. ^ "'I Just Want to Get Out of Here': ICE Is Detaining Hundreds of Children". The New York Times. February 13, 2026. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 26, 2026.
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