Children’s Lawyers Say Suffering Persists at Texas ICE Family Detention Center in New Court Filing

Attorneys representing all children in federal immigration detention told a federal court on March 20, 2026, that minors held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas 'continue to suffer,' detailing allegations of inadequate medical care, constant lights that prevent sleep, hunger, illness, and serious mental‑health deterioration including panic attacks, suicidal ideation and one alleged suicide attempt by a 13‑year‑old girl. Their filing, based on nine monitoring visits since the facility opened last April, says nearly 600 children were held for more than 20 days during December and January, despite longstanding legal limits on prolonged child detention, and cites ICE data showing about 900 people detained there as of early February before the government began quietly releasing families. The lawyers’ account directly contradicts a March 13 DHS filing to the same court that describes Dilley as providing 'safe, sanitary, and appropriate conditions' with compliant medical care, education and recreation, and claims there were 'no placements on suicide watch,' 'no reportable critical incidents' and no evidence of worms in food between November 2025 and February 2026. CoreCivic, the private prison company that runs Dilley, denies that any suicide attempt occurred or that staff confiscated children’s artwork, even as the plaintiffs say guards have started seizing and destroying drawings like those that sparked public outrage when published in February. The clash underscores a widening gap between official accounts and on‑the‑ground reports at the nation’s only federal family detention center and raises new questions about oversight of private contractors, compliance with court standards for children’s treatment, and the Biden‑to‑Trump policy reversal on family detention.