By E. Reed
DILLEY, TEXAS — On January 24, families inside an immigrant detention center in South Texas came together to demand their freedom. An immigration attorney who was visiting the premises to meet with clients informed press that the guards swiftly ordered visitors to leave, and that the voices of children could then be heard over the walls of the facility, chanting “Let us out!” and “Libertad!” Aerial footage of the facility showed families congregated in the outdoor courtyard, clad in multicolored prisoner’s uniforms, chanting together with arms raised.
The sheriff’s department for the county reported that this action occurred just before 1 p.m. on Saturday, with detained families organizing themselves into groups and attempting to “push their way out” of the facility. The detainment center in Dilley, where the uprising took place, houses over 1,000 immigrants, many of whom are children. Among these children was Liam Ramos, the 5-year-old boy who was kidnapped while on his way to school in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Liam, who was photographed in his Spider-Man backpack and blue bunny hat, was abducted alongside his father by federal agents, who then attempted to use him as “bait” to lure his mother and brother out of their family home. This scene unfolded while family members, neighbors, and onlookers begged for his release.
After being abducted by federal agents, Liam and his father were flown over a thousand miles from their home and family in Minneapolis to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, where the five-year-old’s health rapidly deteriorated inside the facility. Liam’s story, and the photo of him ensnared in the clutches of federal agents, was widely publicized by national news media outlets, with calls for his release echoing across the county. With pressure mounting from the public, Liam and his father were officially released by order of a U.S. District judge on January 31, with the pair leaving the detention facility to make the journey home from San Antonio to Minneapolis the day after.
Liam Ramos is just one of the hundreds of children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center. The facility, which was closed in 2024, but reopened for Trump’s second term, has been described as a “horrible, horrible place.”
The drinking water is “putrid,” and the food served to families who are being detained contains bugs, dirt, and other contaminants, says Eric Lee, the immigration attorney who was present for the protest of detained immigrant families. He went on to say “the guards as just as tough as guards at the adult facilities… This is not a place you want your child to be for even 15 minutes.” Neha Desai, managing director at the National Center for Youth Law, commented that, “the current conditions at Dilley are fundamentally unsafe for anyone, let alone young children.”
The Second Trump Administration has made a concerted effort to strip whatever insignificant protections may exist for detained immigrant children, such as by attempting to dismantle the 1997 Flores Settlement Agreement, which requires that children be treated “humanely” and that immigration agents prioritize their release. Immigrant families inside the facility who participated in the protest communicated that they had been driven to act, and even risk retribution, after hearing both Liam’s story and of the mass uprisings in Minneapolis following operation Metro Surge and the murders of legal observers Rene Good and Alex Pretti.
The protest at South Texas Family Residential Center Dilley Detention Center consisted of over 80% of the population of the detention facility, over 1,000 people. It is unknown what the conditions are exactly of the remaining children and parents inside the facility, as reports of a measles outbreak, and ongoing inhumane conditions continue to pour out of the detention center since Liam and his father’s departure.
