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“No child should be locked in an immigration detention center,” reads an open letter signed by numerous Hollywood stars, policy experts, and organizations demanding the “immediate closure” of the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas.
There have been numerous reports of abuse, disease and dehumanizing conditions within the walls of the family and children-oriented Dilley Immigration Processing Center, which is run on behalf of ICE by private corrections and detention company CoreCivic.
The detention centre hit headlines earlier this year when the young Liam Conejo Ramos was sent there by DHS and ICE. The five-year-old boy was detained during the fatal siege of Minneapolis by Trump’s team in January.
The letter is directed at CoreCivic, Trump, ICE Director Todd Lyons and now former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
“Children held in immigration detention endure trauma, neglect and conditions that violate basic standards of health, safety, dignity and human rights,” reads the open letter. “Court filings of abuse against children have included refusals to provide clean water, rotten food contaminated with worms, dangerous medical neglect, sleep deprivation, denial of legal counsel, the separation of children from their families, and retaliation against families protesting the inhumane conditions. Children belong in schools and on playgrounds, not in detention centers.”
The letter continues: “We urge the federal government and CoreCivic to close the Dilley facility immediately, return children and families to the homes and communities they were taken from and to end child imprisonment now. Our commitment does not end with closure. We demand transparency, accountability, and systemic reforms to prevent these abuses from happening anywhere in the United States.”
Signatorees include Jane Fonda, Pedro Pascal, Diego Luna, Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu, Keke Palmer, Madonna, Mark Ruffalo, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Susan Sarandon, John Cusack, Michelle Williams, and many more.
The celebrities have backed the efforts of popular children’s educator Ms. Rachel, real name Rachel Accurso, who made headlines earlier this month for meeting with detained children while vowing to fight to close Dilley.
Ms. Rachel said in a statement about the Dilley petition: “Every child, everywhere, deserves to feel safe, to be cared for, and to be treated with dignity. We can all agree that no child should be locked in an immigration detention center and subjected to these cruel conditions. This is not who we want to be.”
The petition, which has garnered more than 15,800 signatures, comes after another No Kings protest day which saw up to 9 million people take to the streets to rally against Donald Trump and his administration.