Around 3,500 people, more than half of them minors, have been detained at the center for migrant families in Dilley, Texas, where the Trump administration is allegedly breaching a court agreement by extending the detention of some of the children for more than 20 days, according to a report by ProPublica.
An analysis conducted by this specialized investigative media revealed that some 300 minors sent to Dilley by the Donald Trump Administration stayed there for more than a month, which would violate the Flores Agreement, which since 1997 establishes minimum standards for the treatment of migrant minors and guarantees their safety.
Children reportedly being held at Dilley, Texas center
I’ve heard directly from hundreds of children at Dilley. One young girl who shared her story with me grew up in the United States and her stepfather is a U.S. citizen. She said that the guards are mean to her, she is afraid, and that she is worried she will die in detention. She… pic.twitter.com/c2vER0nid9
– Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) February 10, 2026
Located about 130 kilometers south of San Antonio, the center was closed for several years under the Joe Biden Administration (2021-2025).
But it was reopened in March 2025 as part of Trump’s campaign to speed up migrant arrests and deportations.
The U.S. Executive has sought to terminate the Flores Agreement as obsolete, in a case that remains open in a Los Angeles federal court.
In ‘The Children of Dilley’ report, ProPublica follows multiple cases of children in detention, who have recounted their hardships and afflictions, especially to their mental health in letters and personal testimonies.
“Since I arrived at this center, the only thing I have felt is sadness and above all depression,” a 14-year-old Honduran woman, detained with her mother for more than a month and a half after being arrested in New York, where two younger brothers, U.S. citizens, remained.
The investigation also documents complaints from minors about food, lack of medical care and alleged mistreatment by staff at the center, which is run by the private company CoreCivic.
The detention center has been under the scrutiny of congressional Democrats.
The sending of 5-year-old Liam Conejo and his father Adrian Conejo Arias after being detained in Minneapolis also drew the attention of moderate conservatives, who oppose the detention of migrant families.
The controversy over this center was addressed on Tuesday, February 10, at a congressional hearing attended by Todd Lyons, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); Rodney Scott, commissioner of Customs and Border Protection (CBP); and Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
Democratic Congressman James Walkinshaw read excerpts from letters from children detained at Dilley, obtained by ProPublica.
“No child … should be used as a pawn in the perverse and twisted agenda of Stephen Miller (Trump’s immigration adviser),” the congressman declared.
Lyons argued that ICE seeks to have the family unit “safely and humanely reunited as soon as possible” at the hearing, where the three immigration officials declined to answer many of the congressmen’s questions, citing ongoing investigations.
Filed under: Children detained in Dilley, Texas
With information from EFE
