Moulton, 100+ House Democrats Demand Closure of Dilley Detention Center

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman Seth Moulton (MA-06) joined a group of 111 House Democrats in calling to end family detention and shut down the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas. In the letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin, the lawmakers highlighted the brutality of family detention and the lasting trauma inflicted on children.

The Dilley Immigration Processing Center, originally closed in June 2024 over human rights concerns, was reopened in April 2025 by the Trump Administration. It has since held over 5,600 parents, children, and newborns in unsafe conditions with contaminated food and limited access to medical care. The facility routinely violates the Flores Settlement Agreement by detaining children for months past the 20-day limit and using threats of family separation to force migrants to abandon their asylum claims.

The lawmakers highlighted DHS’s violations of court-ordered protections of children’s rights, writing, “The FSA requires that children in immigration custody must be held in the least restrictive setting appropriate to their needs and be detained no longer than 20 days in unlicensed facilities. The Trump Administration consistently and systematically violates these requirements.”

The lawmakers continued by calling on DHS to terminate its contract with CoreCivic and shut down the facility.

Read the full letter here. 

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