Children at Dilley ICE Jail in Texas Describe Their Anguish and Fear

"Fourteen-year-old Ariana Velasquez had been held at the immigrant detention center in Dilley, Texas, with her mother for some 45 days when I managed to get inside to meet her. The staff brought everyone in the visiting room a boxed lunch from the cafeteria: a cup of yellowish stew and a hamburger patty in a plain bun. Ariana's long black curls hung loosely around her face and she was wearing a government-issued gray sweatsuit."

"She perked up when I asked about home: Hicksville, New York. She and her mother had moved there from Honduras when she was 7. Her mother, Stephanie Valladares, had applied for asylum, married a neighbor from back home who was already living in the U.S., and had two more kids. Ariana took care of them after school. She was a freshman at Hicksville High, and being detained at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center meant that she was falling behind in her classes."

"I had previously met them in Hicksville: Gianna, a toddler who everyone calls Gigi, and Jacob, a kindergartener with wide brown eyes. I told Ariana that they missed her too. Jacob had shown me a security camera that their mom had installed in the kitchen so she could peek in on them from her job, sometimes saying "Hello" through the speaker."

Ariana Velasquez, 14, was held at the Dilley immigrant family detention center with her mother for about 45 days. She ate boxed cafeteria meals, wore a government-issued gray sweatsuit, and at first sat withdrawn in the visiting room. Her family moved from Honduras to Hicksville, New York, when she was seven; her mother applied for asylum, remarried, and had two younger children whom Ariana cared for after school. Detention interrupted Ariana's freshman year at Hicksville High and caused her to fall behind academically. A home security camera lets the mother check the children remotely while working, and the siblings miss Ariana.

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