A rainbow, a family portrait, a heart. These are the drawings found in handwritten letters from children detained at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas.
In early February there were more than 750 families, nearly half of them including children, as well as some 370 single adult women being held at this facility. It is just one of many immigration centers across the country, but the only one holding families. Since the start of the Trump administration, the number of children in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention has skyrocketed, increasing sixfold.
ProPublica received letters in mid-January from several children at Dilley. All but two of them had been living in the United States when they were detained. In their words and drawings, they convey how much they ache for creature comforts and describe the anguish of being trapped. They write about missing their friends and teachers, falling behind at school, having unreliable access to medical care when they’re sick — some say they’re sick a lot — and feeling scared about what comes next.
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The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said in a statement that all detainees at Dilley are “being provided with proper medical care.” DHS did not respond to questions about individual detainees but said all “are provided with 3 meals a day, clean water, clothing, bedding, showers, soap, and toiletries” and that “certified dieticians evaluate meals.” DHS also said “children have access to teachers, classrooms, and curriculum booklets for math, reading, and spelling.” Detained parents are given the option for their families to be deported together, or they can have their children placed with another caregiver, the statement said. CoreCivic, which operates the facility, said it is subject to multiple layers of oversight and that health and safety are a top priority.
The public is rarely given an opportunity to glimpse inside Dilley and get a look at how the kids there are doing. Here, we let the children speak for themselves.
Susej F
A 9-year-old from Venezuela who was living in Houston, Texas
Detained for 50 days
Letter transcript:
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“Hello, my name is Susej F and I’am 9 years old. I’am from Venezuela. I have been 50 days in Dilley Immigration Processing Center. And I want to go to my Country. But I miss my school and my friends I feel bad since when I came here to this Place, because I have been here too long. I have been 2 years and 6 months in united states, and I was happy with my friends in The school but now I need to leave. I miss my family in my country so now I want To go to Venezuela. But my mom do not want to leave because she wants a better future for me. Seen how people like me, immigrants are been treated changes my perspective about the U.S. My mom and I came to The U.S looking for a good and safe place to live, and my mom was looking for a Good job.”
Listen to Ariana read her letter
Ariana V. V.
A 14-year-old from Honduras who was living in Hicksville, New York
Detained for 45 days
Letter transcript:
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“Hello, my name is Ariana V.V. im 14 years old and im from Honduras, ive been detained for 45 days and I have never felt so much fear to go to a place as I feel here everytime I remind myself that once I go back to Honduras a lot of dangerous things could happen to my mom and my younger siblings haven’t been able to see their mom in more than a month. They are very young and you need both of your parents when you are growing up. Since I got to this Center all you will feel is sadness and mostly depression. When people have their courts the longest they will last is 15 minutes, our rights are not being provided, arrest are happening when people don’t even have any type of order, arrests are happening illegally.
Its sad to hear that peoples case are being denied and are getting send back to their country places where they are escaping from and are looking for protection and want to feel safe. Not a lot of people know what is happening in the Centers where immigrants are placed at. I haven’t been getting any school time. Every single person in here had their jobs they had their lifes, they aren’t any danger for this Country.
Ive been in this country for almost 7 years and in those 7 years my mom and I found a home and made a bigger family. I have never been separated from my siblings and its honestly sad because they are little and they need their mom and sister, yeah they are with their dad but its still different for them and my mom and I. Since the day my mom and I get detained in Manhattan NY, my life was instanly paused, from my knowledge you can’t be under custody for more than 15 or 20 days, well here in Dilley Immigration Processing Center people have been in this place for 7 months, 5 months, 4-2 months, its not fair that the ICE officers are not following the laws. All kids are being damage mentally, they witness how the’ve been treated.
They don’t have schools, doctor, all they have are nurses, if you need medical attention the longest you have to wait is 3 hours, but to get any medicine, pill, anything it takes a while, there are various viruses people are always sick. Serious situations happen and the officers can’t take them serious enough there are no consecuenses, they don’t care.”
Luisanney Toloza
A 5-year-old from Venezuela who had recently crossed the U.S.-Mexico border
Mia Valentina Paz Faria
A 7-year-old from Venezuela who was living in Austin, Texas
Detained for 70 days
Letter transcript:
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“Hello my name is Mia Valentina Paz Faria I am from Venezuela I have been living in the United States for 3 years, I am 7 years old, I have been here for 70 days in this place, I don’t want to be in this place I want to go to my school, I miss my grandparents, I miss my friends, I don’t like the food here, I miss my school, I don’t like being here, I am bored here, I don’t feel so good in this place, I already want to leave this place, I miss my uncles, I hope to leave here soon.”
Scarlett Jaimes
A 17-year-old from Venezuela who was living in El Paso, Texas
Letter transcript:
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“01/16/25
First of all I want to introduce myself my name is Scarlett Jaimes and I am writing this to express how I feel in this place, since they detained my mother and me I feel really, really bored and overwhelmed because even though I am someone who doesn’t do many productive things being locked up against my will is quite overwhelming, also I feel down about the idea that I couldn’t finish my school year and that I bet I’m going to end up in a worse school in my own country, in my opinion what I think about this place is not a big deal since it’s a normal and ordinary camp.One of the things that I could complain about is that they don’t have varied food and it’s almost the same and it bores me and I lose my appetite and I am not going to even mention the store food because some people don’t have enough money and also some food tastes like cardboard, also in the store it seems a little unfair to me that they buy things that are high priced and bad quality like for example the notebooks and also colored pencils. In my opinion this place has to change several things like the cleanliness and I know it’s not the workers’ fault but the people’s and I know that even if there are rules nobody is going to care about them and that is why people are against the workers here because it seems that there will always be conflict they should keep their word of keeping people a maximum 21 days because if this continues like this this camp is going to get worse for many people.”
Gaby M.M
A 14-year-old from Colombia who was living in Houston, Texas
Detained for 20 days
Letter transcript:
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“Hola! my name is Gaby M.M im 14 years old im from Colombia
I ve been detained in Dilley Immigration Processing Center for 20 days and I haven’t been getthing the rigth education due to being in here. I have’t been able to see my family and friends, since I got here I started to feel sad also I haven’t feelt happy since I got here.
The officers have bad manner of speaking to residents when the are asking anithing the workers treat the residents unhumanly, verbally and I don’t want to imging how they would act if they where unsupervised. I really want to go home I don’t care if I have to go to Katy or Colombia because in both places I have a home and school I get bored a lot and I don’t know what to do, I made friends here and they told me how the been here for 7 months and I get really surprised because I can’t imaging how bad and sad and stessed being here.
I want to tell you guys how I feel and is hell like I really want to go the food is bad im tired of almots the same thing. I feel so much sadness and depression of not being able to leave, its really sad to hear that peoples cases are being denied and getting send back to their countrys.”
Ender
A 12-year-old from Venezuela who was living in Austin, Texas
Detained for 60 days
Letter transcript:
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“Hello I am Ender and I am 12 years old, I have been at this center for 2 months. I arrived here for an immigration appointment and I don’t think they should grab immigrants who are innocent, like instead of grabbing criminals because I mean they prefer to lock up children than look for people who really shouldn’t be in the U.S. They told me I could only be here 21 days but I have already spent more than 60 days waking up eating the same repetitive meals, going outside and that the majority of guards never pay attention to people, eating dinner always the same as the day before, seeing people cry every day for the same reasons, trying to sleep in that horrible uncomfortable bed, going to the doctor and that the only thing they tell you is to drink more water and the worst thing is that it seems like the water is what makes people sick here, going to wait for the bad answers from the judges, hearing the bad news from people who no longer have hope, having to share a room with minimum 3 families, and all that so they send us back to our countries.”
Maria Antonia Guerra Montoya
A 9-year-old from Colombia
Detained for 113 days
Letter transcript:
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“Name Maria Antonia Guerra Montoya
Country I am colombian
Age 9 years
Locked in custody how long 113 Days
I am Maria Antonia Guerra Montoya and I have been 113 days in detention I miss my friends and I feel they are going to forget me. I am bored here. I already miss my country and my house, I came on vacation for 10 Days and they took me into an ice office an officer interrogated me 2 hours without my mom, I was traveling with flight attendant because my mom lives in new york, they only wanted to arrest my mom, because my mom didn’t have documents to live in U.S.A., I always traveled with my tourist visa but ice used me to catch my mom and now I am in a jail and I am sad and I have fainted 2 times here inside. When I arrived every night I cried and now I don’t sleep well, I felt that being here was my fault and I only wanted to be on vacation like a normal family.
They don’t give me my diet I am vegetarian, I don’t eat well, there is no good education and I miss my best friend julieta and my grandmother and my school I already want to get to my house.
Me in dilei [Dilley] am not happy please get me out of here to colombia.
Antonia”
About the Letters
Reporter Mica Rosenberg asked detainees whether their children would be willing to write letters or draw pictures about their experiences. One detainee gathered the letters and brought them out of the center when they were released from Dilley on Jan. 20. The detainee said the parents whose children participated were aware that the letters would be shared with a journalist with the intention of making them public. Afterward we reached out to the detainee who shared the letters and obtained, when possible, additional details like the locations where the families were living before they were detained. The length of time the children say they have been detained is as of mid-January, when they wrote the letters. Some of the letter writers have since been released; the status of others is unclear.
The post “I Have Been Here Too Long”: Read Letters from the Children Detained at ICE’s Dilley Facility appeared first on ProPublica.
This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Mica Rosenberg.