"With his move to Dilley, Liam became part of an ongoing national experiment in detaining immigrant families. George W. Bush's administration briefly used the practice to provide respite to asylum seekers who had just crossed the border and had no plans for where to go next. But ICE officials soon argued that family detention should be used as a deterrent."
"The Obama administration eventually opened Dilley on a remote patch of Texas flatland where temperatures can hit 90 degrees even in December. Its open-air layout of trailers was supposed to be more humane. But for years now, in interviews and court filings, families have described an emotionally crushing atmosphere, with revolting food, foul water, and a dangerous lack of medical care."
"I've visited Dilley several times, and have seen many children go from bright-eyed to listless. What struck me about the second image, and his mother's update, was how familiar his transformation was."
Five-year-old Liam Ramos became a symbol of mass deportation after his ICE detention photos went viral. Within a week, his condition deteriorated dramatically at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas, where he developed fever, vomiting, and lethargy. The facility, designed as a more humane alternative to previous family detention centers, has operated for years with documented problems including inadequate medical care, poor food quality, contaminated water, and sleep deprivation from constant lighting. Originally used briefly by the Bush administration for asylum seekers, family detention evolved into a deterrent strategy. Despite its open-air trailer layout intended to be more humane than previous prison-based facilities, Dilley has consistently failed to provide adequate conditions for detained immigrant families and children.
Read at The Atlantic
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]