Castro Leads Push to Close Private 'Trailer Prison' for Families
Representative Joaquin Castro is spearheading a renewed legislative effort to shut down the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, a Texas facility operated by CoreCivic. After a recent oversight visit, the congressman condemned the site as a site of systemic abuse, where infants as young as two months are currently detained.
Castro, alongside members of the Democratic Women's Caucus, toured the South Texas Family Residential Center to document conditions he described as a "commodification of child imprisonment." During his seventh visit to the site, he reported accounts of contaminated water, inadequate medical care, and food quality concerns. The facility currently holds 539 individuals across 84 families, according to Representative Ayanna Pressley, who joined the delegation to demand an immediate end to the center's operations.
The push for closure extends beyond the facility itself, with lawmakers and advocacy groups like FWD.us highlighting the broader implications of private prison contracts in federal immigration enforcement. Pressley called for the abolition of ICE and an end to qualified immunity for federal agents, arguing that current detention policies cause irreparable harm to families. FWD.us president Todd Schulte echoed these demands, warning that continued taxpayer funding for such detention campaigns only deepens a cycle of state-sanctioned trauma.
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