Madonna, Pedro Pascal, and Ms. Rachel Lead Call to Shut Down ICE’s Dilley Family Jail

A powerful chorus of voices from entertainment, medicine, and activism is sounding the alarm on the ongoing horrors at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, a privately operated migrant family jail in Texas. Among the signatories demanding its immediate shutdown are Madonna, Pedro Pascal, Jane Fonda, and Ms. Rachel, the children’s educator with a massive online following.

Their open letter, published on Change.org and backed by over 215,000 signatures, condemns the facility’s inhumane treatment of children and families. It paints a grim picture of neglect and abuse: detainees denied clean water, served worm-infested rotten food, subjected to dangerous medical neglect, deprived of sleep, separated from their families, and retaliated against for protesting these conditions.

Dr. Anita K. Patel, a pediatrician who has been vocal about the medical dangers faced by detained children, joins this call for closure, emphasizing the well-documented trauma detention inflicts. The letter demands not only the shuttering of Dilley but also transparency, accountability, and systemic reforms to prevent such abuses anywhere in the U.S.

The stories behind these demands are heartbreaking. One mother, Kheilin Valero Marcano, told NBC News how her toddler’s health rapidly deteriorated inside Dilley, eventually requiring hospital treatment for pneumonia, Covid-19, and respiratory distress after staff delayed medical care. Another child, Deiver Henao Jimenez, spoke to Ms. Rachel via Zoom, begging to be released so he could return to school and normal life. Deiver’s family was finally freed after months in detention, highlighting how ICE could have avoided unnecessary imprisonment all along.

Despite a brief closure under the Biden administration, the Trump administration’s lucrative contract with CoreCivic reopened Dilley, with court documents revealing that half the children detained there remain locked up for longer than 20 days—violating longstanding legal protections. Experts warn that even short-term detention causes lasting physical and emotional trauma, including anxiety, depression, and PTSD.

Families like that of five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos continue to suffer deeply. His parents report he lives in constant fear of law enforcement, a chilling testament to the psychological scars inflicted by detention.

This coalition’s message is clear and uncompromising: children belong in schools and playgrounds, not behind bars. The call for Dilley’s closure is not just about one facility; it is a demand for justice, dignity, and the end of child imprisonment in the United States. We will be watching closely to see if the government finally acts on this urgent plea or continues to profit from cruelty.