The Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas houses the largest population of children in federal custody. In recent weeks, reports have emerged of disease outbreaks and unsanitary conditions inside the facility.
Elora Mukherjee, director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School, represents several former and current detainees at Dilley. She joined Jen Psaki on Tuesday and told MS NOW that children, some as young as 1 year old, have been held for prolonged periods of time at the center, in violation of U.S. law.
“Children should not be detained any longer than 20 days, but the Trump administration is regularly holding children in detention for far longer periods,” she said. “I’m currently representing three children who’ve been in detention for nearly 140 days, about seven times the lawful limit.”
Mukherjee also described conditions inside the facility. “Lights are on 24/7, which means children and families have a very difficult time sleeping,” she said.
Along with inadequate access to medical care, families have reported that water is in short supply. “Parents are forgoing water and using their limited funds to buy bottles of water for children, so that their children have enough to drink,” Mukherjee said.
Access to nutritious food has also been an issue. “Children and parents alike have told me how they found worms, bugs and mold in their food,” Mukherjee told Psaki.
“Life inside Dilley is extremely difficult,” she said. “It is a prison for children, for toddlers, for babies.”
Mukherjee talked about how detention had harmed the health of one of her clients, a toddler named Amalia. Before entering the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the 18-month-old was healthy; after just one month at Dilley, she was rushed to the hospital with life-threatening respiratory failure.








