More than 6,300 children held at ICE family detention centers since 2025

Federal immigration authorities have detained more than 6,300 children under age 18 since President Trump returned to office in January 2025. Nearly half of those children were held at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. Ninety-seven percent had no criminal record.

The Dilley facility opened in 2014 under former President Obama and was closed during the Biden administration. It reopened in 2025 under a $180 million annual contract awarded to CoreCivic. The center holds migrant families seeking asylum.

Families and their attorneys have reported insufficient clean drinking water, food containing worms, bugs and mold, and lights kept on 24 hours a day. These accounts appear in sworn testimony, written letters and interviews with detainees. A federal court order known as the Flores Settlement requires prompt release of children from immigration custody, interpreted by one court as no more than 20 days.

One family from the Democratic Republic of Congo was held at Dilley for nearly four months before the mother and two younger children were released in March.

Congress visiting the facility must surrender phones and cameras. No journalists are permitted inside. The Department of Homeland Security stated that all detainees receive proper meals, quality water, blankets and medical treatment, and described claims of substandard conditions as false.

CoreCivic said the conditions described do not reflect operations or care at the center. The White House budget proposal for 2027 seeks funding for 30,000 additional family detention beds. The administration is appealing a court decision that upheld the Flores Settlement.