Two-year-old held by ICE sick and not getting adequate care, Democrat warns
Key Takeaways
- Congressman Joaquin Castro says a two-year-old, Kaleth, in ICE custody at the South Texas Family Residential Center (Dilley) is sick and not receiving adequate care.
- It has been reported that detainees have complained of mold and worms in the facility and that staff dismissed a mother's pleas as “mental”; CoreCivic and ICE deny widespread failures.
- The facility is run by private contractor CoreCivic, which expects to earn about $180m annually from the contract through at least March 2030.
- Advocates point to past complaints, a September court filing alleging inhumane conditions, and prior measles cases as context for calls to release families and increase oversight.
- For people in or facing family detention: document health issues, seek counsel quickly, and raise complaints with legal representatives and elected officials.
What officials say and what is alleged
Congressman Joaquin Castro of San Antonio has publicly demanded the immediate release of a two-year-old boy named Kaleth and his mother, Joani, from the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. Castro posted that the child has a fever and is refusing the food served in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility and that when the mother asked for help, staff told her it was “mental.” It has been reported that detainees at Dilley have complained of mold and worms in food and shortages of clean drinking water; CoreCivic, the private company that operates the center for ICE, says those allegations are false and that health care is available to all detainees.
The Dilley center, formally the South Texas Family Residential Center, has been criticized before. In February the facility reported two measles cases, and it was the site where a five-year-old asylum seeker and his father were briefly detained in a widely reported incident. A court filing from 15 September included detailed accounts that allegedly describe “prison-like” conditions and the use of the term “inmates” for people who are not criminal detainees. CoreCivic’s public-affairs manager has defended the center’s health and safety practices while critics and some court records say care has been inadequate.
Legal context and human impact
ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has authority to detain certain noncitizens, including families, but detention of children triggers heightened legal and policy scrutiny. Advocates point to the Flores settlement and other child welfare and immigration standards that require minors to receive prompt medical attention and to be housed in the least restrictive appropriate settings; courts have at times limited family detention practices. For people currently in or facing family detention, that means medical and legal complaints can be raised in immigration court or through counsel, and documented health problems can form the basis for emergency motions or public advocacy.
The human toll is immediate: families say children have experienced fever, rashes, dehydration and lack of sleep; parents report difficulty obtaining hygiene supplies and timely care. For immigrants navigating the process now, allegations like these can delay case processing, increase legal exposure, and create urgent medical and humanitarian needs. Castro has renewed calls to shut down the Dilley facility and to free detained children; whether that leads to release or regulatory action will depend on ICE decisions, court challenges, and political pressure.
Source: Original Article